Because He Loved Her
by MrsJagielski
Summary: Peyton Sawyer is coming home to the family she left behind, and to the man that never let go of. But her husband hasn't let her go either and he never will. He's taking Peyton home with him after he takes care of what's in Tree Hill that binds her.
1. Chapter 1

**_Disclaimer: As much as it pains me, I own nothing. One Tree Hill, it's characters and storylines are only mine in my dreams._**

**_Author's Note: Any feedback on this story is very and truely appreaciated; But note, I don't comment on my coupling. My goal is that you like the story enough that it doesn't matter one way or the other who's being paired with who. I hope that doesn't lose me readers, but if it does...guess that can't be helped._**

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Because He Loved Her

And OTH Fanfic

By AlexB

One

He couldn't sleep.

What else was new? It was the third night this week he had lain in bed awake staring at the ceiling at a little past three in the damn morning.

What he wanted, what he needed, was a shot of something strong, a willing woman who would leave on her own in the morning, and a superpower that would allow him to get a decent night's sleep.

But he couldn't have it.

Not any of it.

He's stopped drinking more than three years ago and he wasn't about to go back to that. Not for all the sleep in the world. He hated who he had been then. The only woman he had ever wanted was gone. Married someone that wasn't him. She was building a life with another man far away from the life she'd once had in Tree Hill.

With him.

If he smoked, right now would be when he would light up.

In the dark he turned his head to stare at the clock that sat on his nightstand. Pushing up on to an elbow, he reached into the nightstand drawer pulling out a plastic bottle. He sat it down smartly next to the clock then reached out an arm to turn on the lamp.

Midnight blue eyes bore holes into the prescription sleep-aid.

He didn't want to take that shit. He didn't need to. He could get to sleep on his own. He always did. What the hell had he been thinking? He should have taken Haley's head off for filling the damned thing. He should have flushed the pills down the toiled a long time ago, that's what he should have done.

He didn't need them.

"I don't need them." Lucas spoke aloud.

Yanking open the nightstand drawer once more, he threw the pills back inside slamming the drawer shut.

Switching off the lamp, Lucas rolled to his back folding his hands behind his head. His thoughts were moving in his mind a mile a minute. What he had, what he lost, what he wanted and what he needed.

He closed his eyes to try and stop the thoughts, to turn off his brain. When he opened them again it was daylight.

Sunlight shined brightly into the room making his squint his eyes to be able to see. He looked at his clock its red numbers showed that it was still early. It wasn't even noon. Lucas didn't close his eyes again. It would have been for nothing, he was awake.

He ran a hand over his face, his palm scraping against the stubble on his cheek. He had stopped looking at himself in the mirror a long time ago. So long that it had become a habit. He brushed his teeth in the shower and, had he been inclined, he would have shaved in there too

The water stopped and Lucas slid open the sweating shower door. Stepping out he shook his head hard like a dog knocking what water he could out of his ears and from his hair. He wrapped a towel around his waist and stepped from the steam filled stall and was greeted by Simon.

A retired K-9 officer, Simon, a German Shepard, had been given to him by a good friend. The very best. Even though the guy had a tendency to be a pain in the ass, and piss him off on a daily basis.

Fall had to be his favorite time of the year. Lucas never could put his finger on the reason why. Maybe it was being outside while the leaves fell from the trees. Maybe it was the sight of fire places being cued up or the smell of the last of the summer cook outs until the next year, or the way that the air tasted when it changed from warm to cold.

His eyes fell on his computer the same as they always did when he walked though his living room. Lucas made himself look away. His mind wasn't blocked, no it was far from it. He had so many things running through it he could write for years, but he refused to acknowledge any of it. He didn't have the energy to fight with characters or deal with plotlines. He had been burned out for the past year and a half. In just these past few weeks the spark to do something about the thoughts inside his mind had made itself present.

He was afraid.

His phone rang but Lucas made no move to answer it. That's what answering machines were for. After the third ring his machine clicked on and a recorded message told whoever it was that he didn't feel like talking, but if they just had to, then leave a message. Who was he to stop them? After the beep Haley's voice filled the room.

"_I give a smooth damn about how you feel," _she spoke._ "I hate that damn message. It's rude."_

She sighed.

"_Lucas please. Pick up the phone. Pick up the phone, Luke."_

He stood in the open door way of the fridge drinking milk from the carton. He looked at the machine half expecting Haley to be standing there glowering at him. She sighed over the line again, but this time in anger.

"_Okay goddammit, enough is enough."_ She said. _"You've been holed up in that house and cut off from the rest of the world for too damned long, Lucas."_

"You act like I'm doing it for nothing, Haley." He slammed the refrigerator door shut. "I do have a reason for doing what I'm doing."

_"My birthday is coming and I expect you to be there. "You're my best friend dammit and you should be there. Okay? You and Nathan can't stand each other, I get that-"_

Lucas shook his head. "No you don't."

_"But for one night, one night, all I'm asking is that the both of you table it. Choke on it. For me. Can you do that? Please."_

No, he couldn't.

"I can't." He spoke aloud.

The machine beeped signaling the end of the message.

He hated it with every breath that he took, but Lucas had no say in it. Haley had fallen in love with his brother. She married the man for Christ sakes. Her father had asked him to give her away knowing how he felt about the man, but Lucas had done it anyway. He had stood up for Haley that day.

If he could respect what they had why couldn't Haley respect him on this? Why couldn't she respect the fact that he and Nathan would never be one big happy family whether Dan Scott was dead or not? Too much had happened.

Just thinking about it made Lucas mad at both himself and at her. But still, he made mental note to see the little dictator on her birthday if not before.

-

"When is this going to stop, Haley?"

Nathan followed his wife though their home from the back of the house to the kitchen. He had listened minutes before as Haley had let yet another message on Lucas's answering machine. He watched as she wiped tears from her cheeks and he blood had boiled with anger because she couldn't see what was right in front of her face.

No, she wouldn't see.

That was what was really eating at him. Not the fact that Lucas hadn't come around to her way of thinking. The man never would and Nathan could care less. He didn't care if he saw the guy's face or heard his name ever again in his lifetime. What he cared about was his wife and the fact that she was putting her "best friend" before them.

He was tired of watching her fight for something that would never happen whether Lucas agreed to it or not. There was still another person in her damn equation.

Him.

No one had asked Nathan what thought about being "brothers" with Lucas. He didn't want to be family to that guy anymore than Lucas wanted to be one big happy family with him. And Haley, his wife, was just assuming that he would go along with it and fall in line.

Well wasn't she in for one rude awakening?

He'd sit through a party with the man for Haley because it was her birthday and he loved the little tyrant with every fiber in his being. But that was it. He wasn't doing anything else.

He didn't want to.

"Are we going to fight about this?"

"We've been fighting about this." Nathan said to her. "Just because you and I are married and Lucas didn't object doesn't mean that he's happy about it. It doesn't negate the fact that he wouldn't piss on me to put out a fire. It doesn't mean that he wants to hang out and have a couple of beers and watch a game. It doesn't make us friends. It doesn't make us brothers."

"Dan is dead," she began.

"Haley, you're too damn smart to say something so stupid. This has nothing to do with him and you know it."

"Doesn't it?"

"No," Nathan ground out. "It doesn't. You ever stop to think that I don't want this anymore than he does? No? Why does that not surprise me? I'm sick and damn tired of coming second to Lucas with you, Hales."

"If you came second to Lucas with me, Nathan, then we never would have gotten married. _It's my birthday, dammit!_" She shouted. "I get to be selfish. I want my husband and my best friend to sit on their stupid assed feud for one damn night and eat cake and _flippin'_ ice cream! Is that too much to ask?"

"It's not all you're asking and you know it." He spoke quietly. "You want more. I know what you're trying to do, Haley. I know what you're after and he does too. We are not going to be one big happy family because this is the real world, and in the real world you don't always get what you want. If you did, Lucas wouldn't even exist."

"In that world," Haley said to him. "Neither would you and I. It's because of Lucas that we're here in the first place, or did you forget that?"

Nathan pulled in a breath so deep his chest rose. He closed his eyes and tried to let it out slowly but he came out so fast it was like a balloon deflating.

"That was high school."

"It still happened, and I'm not going to apologize for wanting this mess between the two of you dead and buried. What happens when we have children, Nathan? What then babe? I want our babies to have their family. Mine and yours; and that includes Lucas. He's apart of that whether either one of you likes it or not."

"I'm not going to shut him out, but I'm not going to force him either, Hales. Fuck if I beg. Lucas hasn't chosen. You keep pushing this and you're going to make things worse than they already are. And I'm sick and tired of feeling like you're putting your relationship with Lucas before us and our marriage. We don't need him to be happy."

"Oh, Nathan. It's not li-"

"It is!" He shouted. "But you're so wrapped up in all things Lucas, wrapping your perfect word with a damn ribbon and a box, that you can't see it. Maybe you don't want to."

-

For a long time afterward Lucas sat on his back porch trying not to think. His one goal for the day was to tax his body to the max so that even his mind wouldn't be able to keep him awake tonight.

Pushing away from comfort of the recently sanded wood and the warmth of the dog he had yet to deem him his, Lucas wrapped at hand around the long, smooth wood of the ax handle. It was buried into the stump of a tree that had been cut down a long before he even moved into the house.

He didn't need any firewood but that wasn't the point.

He sat a quartered log upright on the stump. In one hand held the ax, its weight made his arm heavy; it pulled on the muscles in his shoulder weighing his arm down. Lucas focused on the wood he was about to split and it was like the anger had come out of nowhere, but it hadn't. I was always there waiting for him to let his guard down so that it could escape. He had learned a long time ago to control it best he could without going crazy.

Today he was going to let it loose because he wanted to use it, not let it use him. Lucas lifted the gate. He let his guard down and let it come. It started at the bottom of his feet, burned up his legs and throughout his body. It spread up his arms and down through his fingers. It moved up his spine, his neck then over his head.

He lifted the ax high with both hands and brought it down hard.

_Thwack!_

The force of the ax split the wood clean down the middle the halves shooting out to either side. He put another and another, breaking and splitting wood. Sweat dripped from his temples. It fell from his hair to burn in his eyes. It itched at the back of his neck, slid own his spine too pool at the small of his back.

It was working, Lucas could feel it. He could feel the anger draining. It would always be there, Lucas wasn't naïve about that, but he was in charge of it. He ruled it, not the other way around.

He kept splitting wood until there was nothing left. His arms hung heavy and he was exhausted but he made himself lift the ax one more time to bury it back in the stump. Safety first and all. He made a weak attempt to wipe the sweat from his face with his shoulder as he headed for the porch.

And stopped dead in this tracks.

"_What the fuck are you doing here?"_ Lucas snapped angrily. "How the hell did you get in and why the hell are you on my damn porch?"

He took the five steps up and didn't spare his brother the slightest glance. In the beginning he had had to work at it. Now, it was like he had been born doing it. He didn't even care if it rubbed Nathan the wrong way anymore. Said something didn't it?

Lucas dug into the cooler that sat in the far corner of the porch. He paid Nathan no mind once more as he moved back down the steps. He uncapped the long neck bottle on the stair banister draining half of it in two long pulls, and waited.

Nathan stood like a bull in a china shop in the doorway. He wore a dove gray jacket that was open at the collar, worn jeans and black work boots. Basketball having not worked out of him the way that he had wanted it to, Nathan now owned a semi-successfully construction business. People in town still held the championship against him all the years later even though they had won that game.

He had his hands shoved in the pockets of his jeans as he stared Lucas down. He wasn't intimidated by the person who stood only a few feet away. Why would he be when what he saw as less than intimidating?

"So, what? You're going to make her beg?"

"Go home, Nathan." Lucas warned him. "Before you ruin my good mood." The anger that he had succeeded in using earlier to his advantage earlier, exhausting it to nothing started to rise slowly in Lucas again.

"Aren't you supposed to be the 'good brother', the 'better son'? The hero to my villain?" It pissed him off when Lucas looked right through him with the same eyes that Nathan saw in the mirror every morning.

"I will break you." He promised. "I will break you in two if I have to watch my wife shed one more tear over someone who's worth less than a damn. One more, Lucas, and I'm coming back. And when I do, words won't have a place. Understand?"

He drained what was left in the bottle, tossing the empty into the recycling bin. His anger was back in full force now, and every bit of it was egging Lucas on, practically begging him to take those stairs and knock Nathan's block off. His anger took over his fatigue completely.

He pulled the ax out of the stump and set up another log. He chopped wood still ignoring Nathan. He knew that the guy wouldn't take the hint. Soon as he said what he needed to say he would get the hell off his property. And if he was smart, he wouldn't bring himself back.

"I'm willing to table this for Haley." Nathan went on. "I could care less if I ever see your face again in life."

"I'm always going to be first, Nathan." Lucas kept on chopping. When he looked at Nathan his eyes were cold and gave away nothing. "And even though he chose you, you know just like I do that he regretted the choice, the mistake that he made. It pisses you off that he regrets not being there for me when he should have been. That's why you come at me the way that you do."

"Haley is my wife."

"And a grown woman." Lucas cut in. "Life isn't fair. You don't always get what you want even if you think that you need it. We both know about that."

"I would do anything for that woman." Nathan said. "The same thing used to be said about you. How the mighty have fallen."

"You should feel like the better man then, now shouldn't you?" Lucas raised the ax high then brought it down.

_Thwack!_

"Go home, Nathan." He told him again. "Tell Haley, tell you wife that you did your good deed for the day and that it got her key confiscated. You can leave it in the kitchen on your way out."

"Before she married me, you told my wife that she deserved better than me and you were right. When I go home and tell her that she deserves better than you I'll be the on in the right won't I, Lucas?"

He kept splitting wood. "Haley still deserves better than you, Nathan." He replied. "That hasn't changed. And even if I'm not there for her the way that she wants me to be, I'm there in the way that she needs me to be."

_Thwack!_

He set up another log. "It doesn't matter how you feel about me or how I feel about you. Haley chose to marry you, but she's been my best friend since grade school. You won't change that. Don't threaten me again. I don't like it. I promise you won't either."

"You don't deserve her."

_Thwack!_

"Neither do you."

_Thwack!_

The screen door smacked shut and second later the front door slammed.

Lucas kept going. He kept chopping wood until the anger had left him again and his arms refused to move. He couldn't even put the ax in the stump so he laid it across it. He used the last of his energy to crash down hard on the steps.

He looked over his shoulder and smiled, laughing softly when Simon dropped another cold one in his lap. Lucas reached behind him, scratching the dog behind his ear then he took a long drink. The flavor burst on his tongue reminding him of southern summers when times had been good. Simon sighed heavily behind him. Closing his eyes, Lucas let his mind wander to those few short snatches of goodness that had happened in his life. It didn't last long. He opened his eyes when he felt a shadow fall over him.

"That had better be soda you're downing." A deep rough voice like honey over gravel spoke with silent intensity.

Lucas stared at the man saying nothing then sent him a smile that was so fake it was mocking. "Grape soda deputy," he raised the bottle in his hands as a toast all most in Jake Jagielski's direction.

"Want one?" He offered.

Jake glared down at his friend. His hair was plastered to his skull with sweat; the t-shirt he wore was stuck to his torso with it. Jake glanced to his side, taking in the ax that was laid over the stump.

He had every right to be skeptical about what his friend was tossing back. He'd had been the first one on scene when Lucas had gotten behind the wheel of his classic T-Bird and nearly killed himself. The car had been totaled and if it hadn't been for the good lord and Karen Roe looking down on him, Lucas would have been killed too.

So many things had happened to him and it seemed like it had happened all at once, one thing after another. And from the looks of it, the guy was still throwing himself a pity party. It was long passed about damn time for him to "get off the pot" as his father was fond of saying. They had a friend in need and she was going to need all of them.

Lucas especially.

"She's coming home, Luke."

Lucas lifted his shoulder in a shrug and took another pull on from his bottle of soda. "Why should that matter to me?"

"It does matter to you."

"Not anymore."

"Oh bullshit!" He snatched the near empty bottle from the other man's hands and threw it as hard as he could against the side of the house. The glass shattered on impact, sending what was left of the soda inside slapping up against the side of the house. Lucas shot up from where he sat that the two men stood toe to toe, nose to nose. Both breathing hard, their eyes shot fire. Simon who was now perched on the porch, growled low and deep in this throat.

"There isn't much left of the girl we used to know, Lucas." Jake told him. "And if you think that that son of a bitch that she married is going to let her go without a fight then all those years your spent trying to drink yourself to death when you weren't wrapping your car around a goddamn tree did more than just kill off your brain cells.


	2. Chapter 2

Because He Loved Her

And OTH Fanfic

By AlexB

Two

Lucas looked his friend in the eye, his jaw clenching and his fists balling. "Haley send you?" He wanted to know. "Brooke?"

"Peyton's my friend just the same as she is theirs. Yours."

Lucas barked out a laugh. Friends? He couldn't call Peyton Sawyer a friend. He would never call her or "them" just friends.

Once upon a time Lucas had thought that the girl he had fallen in love with in high school, and the woman she had slowly become after ward, as his wife. He had seen his future in Peyton Sawyer's eyes. He had imagined waking up to her every morning after making love to her every night. The kids, the house, the dog, hell the damn picket fence. It was all there.

Used to be there.

Once upon a time.

When his life had gone to hell, Peyton had walked. She had walked and Lucas knew that it hadn't been for nothing. He didn't blame her, hadn't blamed her, but he was still damned angry because when she had walked, he hadn't done a damn thing to stop her. He had been so intent on drowning himself, drowning in his own misery. It had hurt then and it still hurt to think about it now.

It hurt like hell.

He couldn't think about Peyton being hurt and broken, but he knew, _Lucas knew_, that it was the truth. He knew it was the truth because he knew Jake Jagielski. And, with or without the badge, Jake didn't lie.

He whirled away from his friend stabbing a hand through his hair. He paced back and forth while Jake and Simon watched. Lucas didn't keep in or hold back anything. Anger, fury, anguish and rage mixed inside him and he kicked the bottom step of the porch once, twice, three times until he heard the wood crack, then he smashed his closed fits on to the banister. But it wasn't enough. It was no where near. It wasn't that son of a bitch's face. Lucas kicked at the porch again until the wood split. Drained again he rested his arms on the wooden banister and held his head in his hands.

_Peyton._

_Why?_ He wanted to know.

_Why? Why did she stay if things were so bad?_ He needed to know.

_When do we go find this bastard and kill his ass_? His soul demanded.

"I used to love her the way that you do, Luke." He heard Jake speak from behind him. "And I want to kill that bastard. I want to squeeze the life out of him with my bare hands. I want to empty a clip into his chest and worse. The only reason why haven't hunted that son of a bitch down is because I can't protect Peyton that way. And you can't protect her either if you crawl inside a bottle, or worse, inside yourself."

He wanted to.

God in Heaven he wanted to.

He wanted to plow his fist into the deputy sheriff's face.

"Why the hell did you tell me?" Lucas raged. "Why'd you tell me this, huh? So I would have that image floating, stuck permanently in my mind?" He raised his head from his hands and glared at Jake over his shoulder.

Jake glared right back.

"I told you so that you wouldn't be blindsided. I told you so you would be prepared and not climb your idiot self into a hole of your own making." Jake went on. "I told you because whether either one of you likes it or not, Peyton is going to need you. I told you, you ass, because whether you like it or not, you still need her too."

-

She was going home.

Habitually, Peyton Sawyer looked through her rearview mirror. He wasn't behind her she knew, but in a jail cell in Charleston where she had left him. But all the other times, her ex-husband to be had been there. Those times had been the worst.

She tired to shake the nightmares from her mind. Over and over again she kept telling herself that she was going home and there she would be safe. Finally she would be safe. There she would be able to get back to the person that she used to be, flawed as that person was. She'd be the person she had been before she ever met Derek Sommers.

Then she would start her life all over again.

Forever was waiting for her in Tree Hill.

Only Brooke knew the details of her "marriage" and that's where she would be for the time being.

Like she had a choice…

"_You're coming home with me where you belong."_ Brooke had told her when Peyton had finally gathered up what was left of herself and filed for divorce.

She knew that it wasn't going to work when she filed it, but that didn't stop her from hoping. She had filed a restraining order against her husband any way, hoping against hope that man would take the hint and leave her alone. She knew that she would have to tell Jake. He was a cop, a deputy sheriff, and Peyton knew that her friend would enforce the order to the letter. Her stomach clenched at what she had to do but she felt that she needed to tell Jake all of it. He needed to know what her ex-husband had done; what he was capable of.

Who knew, she thought. Maybe it would help her to heal.

It was hard for her no to look in the mirror and see the person that she was now. So much had happened to her and not enough of it had been good. Her mother died, years after that, she had found out that she had been adopted. She had lost both her moms to breast cancer then turned around and had her own cancer scare. Those Peyton had learned to deal with because she had no choice. It was life. But cutting her father out of her world had been on her. It had been a conscious decision that Peyton had made.

Her father had never been the same after Anna Sawyer's death. For years Peyton dealt with it the best that a young child could. She lived with the shadow the man that her father used to be. He had been all that she had left. She remembered for months after her mother had died, clinging to her dad because she had been afraid that she was going to loose him too.

As she got old enough to be on her own her father had taken longer away jobs that had paid more. They hadn't been rich by any means, but they had been comfortable. Peyton wouldn't have cared if they lived in a shack; all she had wanted was her dad.

She had begun to wall herself from him every time he left. Looking back on it now, Peyton couldn't remember when it had started. She had managed to fool herself into thinking that it would hurt less and less when he left until it got to the point that she didn't care anymore either way.

Every time he came home there was even less of the shadow. Peyton had been drained to the point of suffocation. She went away to college to get away from it, hoping that when he came home it would be better, that her dad would finally fight his way back.

He never had and Peyton had stopped going home altogether. She'd gotten herself a small apartment and only saw her father a few times a month, if that, and even then it was only for a short period of time.

It still hurt to think about it, but she knew then that it had to be done or her father, in his grief, would have pulled her under with him.

And Lucas…She had to walk away from him too. When he had lost his mother to the same cancer that had taken both of hers, he had started to drown. She had tried to save him for the both of them, but Lucas hadn't wanted to be saved and she had still been trying to save herself.

After she left, Peyton had dreamed about Tree Hill often. She had dreamed about a time when her life had at least been somewhat good. Sometimes, when she closed her eyes, she was back at home and her mom was still alive. Her dad was cracking lame-assed jokes; the two of them embarrassing the hell out of her because they couldn't keep their hands to themselves in public.

Peyton dreamed about Brooke and about Haley. She dreamed about Nathan and Jake, but most of all, Peyton dreamed about Lucas. Sometimes it was memories of them, others it was how their lives could have been if they had stayed together. But mostly, when Peyton dreamed about Lucas, he was telling her to come home.

"_Come home, Peyton."_

It wasn't until she had reached Tree Hill's city limits that fresh tears began to fall.

-

Brooke sat on her porch waiting when Peyton's classic ride pulled up in front of her house. The "house" that Brooke had grown up in. "Existed" she would say. The dark auburn haired woman met Peyton just as the driver's side door opened.

When Brooke pulled her into a hug, he first instinct was to stiffen, and she did. Slowly, gradually, she relaxed and hugged her friend back. The two women stood, locked in an embrace when the slamming of a car door jolted them apart.

Peyton pulled away, her heart beating in her throat, terror shooting through her. She hated that sound. Her heart beat so hard she could barely breathe. Closing her eyes, Peyton willed it all to stop. She was safe here, she was home. Over and over again she repeated those words to herself until she was sure that she wouldn't swallow her tongue. She pulled in a deep breath, but kept her eyes closed.

"Hey."

She felt Brooke touch her arm, her shoulder, and she nodded, letting Davis know that she was okay.

"It's just Jake." She heard her friend speak. "Just Jake."

She opened her eyes and slowly turned to the man with shoulders wide enough to block out the sun. He took his hat off and held it in his hands. His curly brown hair showed off natural redish-brown highlights with the sun hit it. He had been a carrot top as a child. She had seen the pictures.

His smile was tentative as he spoke.

"Welcome home, Peyton."

She felt like crying again. Jake saw that. Panic laced his features; he turned to Brooke, his eyes pleading with her to help.

"Well don't you look all official in your cop attire." Brooke teased taking in the tall, slim hipped, broad shouldered man with curly chocolate brown hair.

"They should put you in one of those sexy man calendars." She laughed softly when the tips of Jake's ears caught fire.

"Quit it, woman."

"When you stop looking so damn good."

For the first time in a long time Peyton felt an honest to God smile start on her lips when Jake turned his 'help me' gaze her way.

"I have some bags in the back," she stared.

He moved quickly, grasping the out with both hands.

"Yeah, yeah. Sure. No problem." He took the keys from Peyton's waiting fingers and unlocked the trunk. Reaching inside, he pulled the biggest bag out as if it weighted nothing, then slipped the strap of a smaller bag over his shoulder.

"We weren't expecting you until tonight," he spoke. "Came over on my lunch break when Brooke called. Had to make sure that Brooke had the place bedded down anyway."

"Batted down the hatched just like you told me. But it wouldn't hurt for you to take a look at things anyway, make sure I did them right? You know what they say, you can never be too safe deputy."

Jake looked at Brooke for long seconds then finally nodded his head in reply. He stared toward the house, Peyton was behind him, but Brooke stopped her with a hand on her arm.

"Good-sweet-Jesus-God." She sighed watching Jake Jagielski's backside move in the slacks of his uniform as he walked. "They really should put his ass in jail."

Jake froze mid-step at the wolf-whistle that split the air behind him. Laying her head on her friend's shoulder, Peyton turned her face into Brooke's collar, her shoulders shaking with laughter, honest to god mirth. Brooke chuckled as Jake began to move again.

"Oh, baby," she fanned herself with one hand throwing her other arm over her friend's shoulders. "What I need is a trunk full of dollar bills."

-

"_I won't let you leave me ever. You'll always be mine. We're supposed to be together. 'Til death do us part."_

Peyton came awake with a scream in her head that didn't make it to her lips. She was frozen in terror in room that was unfamiliar. Her chest rose and fell in panicked breaths as her eyes wildly searched the room, remnants of the nightmare and fear laced through her body.

Slowly the room came into focus. All the lights were on and a soft snoring sounded in the bed beside her. Eerily it calmed her; it helped her mind slow down enough to remember where she was and why she was there. Brooke slept on beside her just the same as she had in high school. The only difference was that this time they were in Brooke's bed and in her home instead of the other way around.

Peyton Sawyer was back in Tree Hill.

She was home.

The nightmare had her so rattled; Peyton didn't dare close her eyes again. Instead she got out of bed not all the worried about waking Brooke. Brooke Davis could sleep through and earthquake.

She walked through her friend's home. Brooke's family had gone bust their junior year of high school. Her parents had to sell their home. When Brooke's father had found a new job, a better job in California, Davis had said goodbye to her parents, refusing up root her life and follow them all the way across the country. Her parents hadn't seemed to mind. They didn't care too much about being parents either way. Brooke had been raised by nannies for as long as she could remember. She could name every one of them that had bee in their employ and what they had gotten her for her birthdays. She still sent them cards on Christmas.

There wasn't one picture of her parents in the house.

_"Nothing's changed,"_ Peyton remembered her saying. _"I've been on my own since the cradle. Only difference this time around is that I have to get a job."_

That had hardly mattered. Brooke had wanted what she wanted bad enough. Even before her father had been stupid, Brooke had begun to amass her own fortune with the creation of her own clothing line. After graduation Brooke had went all over the place on the money her parents had send her as bribery for not showing up for graduation. Peyton still had the postcards.

In her time abroad, Brooke had leaned everything that she needed to know about what she wanted to do with the rest of her life. She got her name out there, her clothes, and when she got home, she had enough in her pocket and then some, to buy back the place she had "existed" in, and proceeded to breathe life back into it.

The place no longer felt cold like the inside of a tomb. Parties were held here, barbeque blow outs, hell Super Bowl parties and the NBA Finals played out on a theater sized big screen television in the "viewing" room as well as the NCAA Final Four. And she had no idea how the woman pulled it off, but Brooke had live feeds of Tree Hill Varsity Basketball games for those who didn't go to away games or couldn't get into the Field House when home games were packed.

Even with the lights on in the house, there was nothing better than the way that the house looked with the sun coming in all the windows. The walls were painted in warms colors that wrapped themselves around you instead of the traditional stark white that had been there when they were younger. Gone were the mini-statues and sculptures, in their place were flowers in pretty vases. The pictures that hung on the walls were weren't the usual landscapes. She had Paris and Rome, the Rivera. The window's stretched from the floor to the ceiling making Tree Hill a picture in itself.

Peyton curled herself into one of the chairs, staring out the window into the night. She hated the shadows and wished that she sun would rise already. But the light didn't always keep the dark at bay. It still came back.

The stars were out and the moon shown brightly, but the storm that Jake had predicted was coming. She could feel it. She didn't know when it would hit them, but in her experience, it would come when they least expected it. The storm always did, but this time she wanted the rain. Peyton wished for it. She needed it to wash away her pain and her nightmares the same as it did everything else.

She didn't like being scared. She hated it. Peyton wanted to put that feeling under her foot and step down hard. She wanted to stomp it into the ground and bury it so deep it would never be able to crawl out of the hole she put it in.

But was ever that easy, and everything worth having you fought for.

Her mother had taught her that.

Deep inside was the person she used to be, that woman standing on her own fighting to be strong. She wanted that person back; she wanted to be that survivor. She wanted to survive this. She needed to.

-

"_Peyton Sawyer?"_

_When she looked up at him with those eyes, eyes that pulled him in, change colors like the wind blew, it was like he had been punched in the chest and all the air had been stolen from his body._

_And he knew. He knew right then and there that he was looking into the eyes of the woman he was going to spend the rest of his life with, the woman he was going to marry. His wife, the mother of his children._

_Instantly he hated every man that had touched her, made those lips smile or made tears fall from her eyes._

_Those eyes._

_He held out a hand. "Derek Sommers."_

"Honey, I'm home."

He slammed the door open expecting to see his wife waiting for him, instead he saw nothing. She wasn't in the living room. The TV was off, the curtains were drawn. The kitchen was clean, no dirty dishes in his sink.

The bedroom door was closed.

He threw his keys on to the counter then started for the closed door slamming his chair out of the way in the process. He didn't like closed doors. He hated locked ones even worse. He'd told her more than once not to close the doors in his house. His hand gripped the knob. It wasn't locked. Derek swung the door open hard; it slammed into the wall, the knob breaking into the wall.

What he saw where drawers. Open drawers that used to have his wife's clothes in them open and empty. He could hear his blood rush in his hears, his breaths deepened raising his chest.

That bitch.

He'd spent three days in jail and she had skipped on him.

She left him.

He looked in the closet. The clothes were gone from her end. Hangers were what were left. He went into the bathroom. Her toiletries were gone. She even took her shampoo from out of the shower.

He braced his hands into the counter over the sink. He turned on the faucet, splashing water on his face. He looked at himself in the mirror. He had three days of growth on his face, and detested it. He needed a shower in the worst way. Being locked up with the filth of the world had been uncalled for and there would be hell to pay for it.

Standing he pulled in a deep breath that was meant to calm then slammed his fist into the mirror and the face that looked back at him.

His hand was still bleeding, little pieces of glass imbedded in the cuts when he found the papers that had been left for him in the dining room table, missed when he had come in the house looking for what was his.

A shower later, clean shaven and feeling like a new man, Derek was on the road. His fists clenched tightly around the steering wheel. She left. Walked out on him and their home, the life that they had together, leaving divorce papers on the kitchen table and that was supposed to be the end?

She sent him to jail.

He didn't know what pissed him off more; the fact that his wife actually thought that she could end them. That she took steps to keep him away from her, or that she had put him behind bars. She had him jailed for something that she had asked for; what she had brought on herself.

She had left.

It wasn't that she hadn't tired to leave him before. She had, more than once, but she had always come back. She hadn't had any choice. He loved her too much and the force of his will and the need for them to be together was just too strong. He thought that his wife had learned.

He thought that she had understood that.

She hadn't.

This time he would make sure that she did.

Derek knew was, where she went. Back to Tree Hill. Peyton's sorry excuse of a father was, by the grace of whatever deity he prayed to, still breathing. But his wife wouldn't be going home to him. She had been smart enough to get out of that sinking boat years ago. But she still had attachments to the place where she was born.

The most trouble some would be Brooke Davis, her mouthy bitch of a "best friend" who didn't know her place. She'd never liked him, but that was okay, he never liked the tramp either. She had a pretty face and all, but she was made for one thing and one thing only. Lying on her back. That's how she had made her way to the top of the so-called "fashion world." Some one actually paid her money to put them in clothes.

Rich people were assholes. They threw their money around like dirt. They like tossed it around like little kids threw mud-balls. He had tried to tell his wife for years that Brooke Davis was no friend of hers. They had fought about it, and in the end, she had kept her stupid friend.

But only because he had let her.

Jake Jagielski was another problem. He was a do-gooder cop who would enforce the worthless piece of paper his wife's useless restraining order had been printed on to the fullest extent.

A smiled pulled at his lips.

He wanted him to. Badly.

Nothing was stopping him from taking back what was his. He would have his wife and would demolish anyone who was stupid enough to get in his way. Derek's laughed echoed through the car as he drove.

"Tree Hill, here I come."


	3. Chapter 3

**_I'm sorry for the late update. School and life had been taking up a lot of my time and I haven't been able to write the way that I want in order to have the updates. Hopefully I'll be on time for the next one. For those read Daddy Overnight, the next update will be late as well._**

**_So sorry for the inconvience._**

**_Alex._**

* * *

Because He Loved Her

And OTH Fanfic

By AlexB

Three

She woke to voices.

"Not you too."

"I'm not about to tell you what to do. I'm just saying that you can't expect Haley not to be upset. I mean, you'll come over here to see me and that's a rarity. But you won't go see her at all."

"Not true." The male voice replied. A very familiar, very real, male voice replied. She closed her eyes putting a face to the familiar tone.

It was always his eyes that she saw first. They were an electric blue that could change to midnight in an instant. His smile was short of amazing. A lone dimple winked out in his cheek when he grinned or smiled. His tosses blonde hair was just that. She didn't think that Lucas even owned a comb. It was like he just shook his hair dry, or ran a quick towel over his head and went. It hardly mattered because it worked on him. It didn't look messy. It looked…

His voice pulled her back.

"I see Haley," he went on. "Just not as much as I used to."

"Because of Nathan."

"Because of Nathan." Lucas repeated. "I don't want to spend anymore time around that guy than I already have too, and if I can get it to none at all, I'm going to. Haley's husband or not. We aren't kids anymore. He shouldn't have to leave his house because I visit. If the roles were reversed I wouldn't. Haley's just going to have to understand.

"It's her birthday, Luke."

"And I've never missed one. I'll see Hales on her birthday, but she's just going to have to respect that fact that Nathan and I are not going to be one big happy family whether Dan Scott is dead or not."

-

Lucas brushed a kiss over his friend's brow. He turned to leave, but something stopped him, something inside him pulled tight, making him turn around. The hair on the back of his neck stood on end. He tuned his head, looking over his shoulder, and was caught in the gaze of the past.

"_Is this really what you want?" She asked him. "Is this really the way that you want it to be?"_

"_It's the way it is."_

"_You could change it."_

_His laugh was self-depreciating. "If I could change anything," he told her. "My mother would still be alive. Cancer wouldn't have killed her from the inside out."_

"_Lucas-"_

"_Keith would still be breathing. Grief wouldn't have taken what's left of my family."_

"_You still have people who love you. Haley is still here."_

"_And she's marrying that evil bastard, isn't she?"_

"_So what, Lucas," Peyton folded her arms across her chest. "So what," she repeated. "You're just going to cut Haley out of your life because she's marrying your brother?"_

"_I don't have a brother." Lucas said for what felt like the millionth time. "Whether Haley is still in my life after she signs hers away is her choice. Just like it's mine not to be there when she does it."_

"_I can't believe you're not going to the wedding."_

"_I don't want to watch my friend make the biggest mistake of her life, Peyton. I won't make things worse by beating the hell out of the groom."_

_He sat on the floor in front of the only window, a beer hung loosely in the fingers of one hand. Peyton got on her knees in front of him, she took the beer from him. He looked away from her, but not before she could see that hurt, that pain and anguish in his face. She tucked her hair behind her ears moving as close to him as she could get, taking Lucas's face in her hands._

"_Why?" She spoke to him softly. "Why are you so determined to destroy what you have left?"_

"_Weren't you listening?"_

"_Yeah, and what I'm hearing is a bunch of bullshit. This is the grief messing with you Lucas, the same thing that took Keith is trying to pull you under and you can't let it. You have to fight it. I watched it swallow my dad, I can't watch while it swallows you, too."_

_He wanted to be pissed at her words because she was wrong. He wasn't letting it do anything. It was winning without any help from him. It was winning because he wasn't strong enough to beat it. All of it was too much too fast._

_She was so beautiful._

_Lucas poured all that he had left into the kiss he'd started. He'd never been able to not kiss her. He could do it all day, all night, and never have to come up for air. She murmured something against his lips, but Lucas wasn't listening. When she pulled away, resting her head against his, she spoke them again._

"_Please, Lucas."_

Peyton stared back at him. Lucas felt his mouth go dry and his heart rate pick up. The last time he'd seen her was when he had walked Haley down the aisle.

God…she was still beautiful.

The son of a bitch she married hadn't killed that. But he's touched her something awful. He could see it in those eyes. Those gold-green eyes. It made him want to hunt down the sorry excuse she married and beat the bastard to within an inch of his pissant life.

When he dreamed about her, he was always holding here. They were always lying together, with Peyton asleep on his chest. Her heart beat a steady rhythm against his. Whether they had just made love or he was about to wake her so they could, he always had one hand holding hers, the other buried to the wrist in her hair.

Always.

It was automatic.

Watching her right now, his fingertips began to itch. She didn't look away. Neither did he, but he made himself stop remembering. Clearing his throat, Lucas spoke. "Welcome home, Sawyer."

Peyton nodded faintly, her feet held to the floor like blocks of cement. "Thanks, Scott."

Brooke, who was still in the room by the way and practically in between them, fanned herself with a hand waiting for the next volley. Sweetjesusgod, she thought. This was better than daytime TV. The two of them had been apart for years. Peyton had gotten married for Christ sake. She had been another man's wife and it was still there. It was like Lucas and Peyton had never stopped.

"Why don't you stay for breakfast, Luke." Brooke offered.

He made himself pull his gaze away from her to focus on his friend. "Wish that I could." It wasn't a complete lie. He wished that he wanted to stay. Brooke nodded. She understood completely.

"What do I tell Haley when she comes to bite my head off?"

"You tell her to tell her husband to stop coming to my house. It's pissing me off. Tell her to stop leaving messed up messages on my machine. I won't pick up. If she wants to yell at me, we can't meet somewhere or she can come to the house. She can get her key back, I'll feed her and we'll have it out face to face. I've missed it."

"You can always go to her," Brooke tried again. "At a time when you know that he won't be there."

"Still his house." Lucas told her. "And as much as I hate that guy, I still respect that fact. I wouldn't want Nathan in my home whether I was there or not. And I love Haley too much mess with her marriage like that." He shook his head. "I just wish that she wasn't so hell bent on making us this dysfunctional version of the Brady Bunch, you know?"

"She loves you, Luke."

He knew that. He didn't want Brooke's pity, he didn't want her to feel obligated to him or Haley to try and smooth things either, so he was going. But he couldn't stop himself from looking at Peyton once more before he did.

"I'm not going anywhere." He was talking to Brooke and had to make himself look at the woman again. It didn't register that she was trying to keep a smirk off her face.

"I'm not going anywhere," Lucas said again. "Haley knows that. I'm sorry that it has to be this way, but it is what it is."

Looking at her again was a mistake, but Lucas had made many. This one was sure to be one that he would regret, but he didn't give a damn. She had her arms wrapped around herself, her face turned away from him.

"Good to see you, Peyton."

She looked at him. "Good to see you, too, Luke."

-

"_I can't. I can't do it. It's too hard to watch you cave in on yourself."_

_She closed her eyes on hot tears as she felt his hand touch her face. She had known that this day was coming, and Peyton had done everything that she could to stop it, but nothing had worked._

_Lucas needed her, but she was starting to see that she couldn't be the one to save him. He didn't want to be saved, and she was still trying to save herself. _

_When she opened her eyes again, Lucas had moved. He stood at the window. With and arm braced over his head, he other with a loose grip on a long neck, he stared out into the dark._

_Slowly she stood. She didn't speak. She couldn't. Even if she could find the words, Peyton didn't have the energy to speak them What little energy she did have she was going to need to do what had to be done._

_Walking away from him, Peyton unclasped the necklace that Lucas had given her from around her neck. She left it on the counter near the door when she left, closing it silently behind her. Down the hallway toward the elevator, she kept thinking, waiting for the door behind her to open, for Lucas to come out after her, tell her that this was a mistake. _

_He didn't._

_Peyton didn't let herself have one last look at him. She wouldn't close her eyes and remember him. When the elevator doors closed, so did everything inside her. The walk outside, out of his life, and to her car felt like the most steps Peyton has ever taken._

_He watched her from the window, she knew. She could feel his eyes on her just the same as she could feel the rain hit her with fat drops._

_She wouldn't let herself look up._

"Peyton?"

She blinked, looking at her friend.

"He knows." Peyton told her. When he had looked at her, it had been more than Lucas remembering them. He knew about her life after Tree Hill. It was the only explanation for the guarded fury on his face. It had taken all of three seconds to see that his fury, his anger; his rage wasn't at her, but for her. He looked more than ready to strike first and ask questions later.

"I didn't tell Lucas, Peyton." Brooke informed her. "Jake suspected. He out right asked. I didn't tell him. I didn't have to. If Luke knows," she lifted a shoulder. "Jake has to be the one to have told him, and it had to have been for a very good reason. That man is the most honorable person I know."

She needed to sit down. It had always been apart of her plan to tell Jake everything so that he could be better able to protect her. But he already knew.

Jake already knew.

And Lucas did too.

"I've never see Jake so mad before, Peyton." Brooke spoke quietly. "I've never see him cry before either." Her voice hitched. Peyton's gaze shot to hers, Brooke nodded blinking back tears.

"That man punched four holes in my wall before he slid to the floor and let those man tears fall. He paid for the damage, tried to joke about it, but I'll never forget the way that he looked that day. If your ex is stupid enough to come here, he isn't going to leave Tree hill under his own steam."

-

She thought that some piece of paper was going to keep him away? She thought that she could just leave him, that some judge say that they weren't married anymore, that she wasn't his wife, and that would be it?

She thought that he was just going to let her go?

Bullshit.

"Till death do you part." That was what the bible said, that was the vow that Peyton had taken when she said "I do." He had promised to be his wife for the rest of her life and she wasn't about to walk away from him. She would stop breathing first, and he would remind his wife of that fact before her took her back to where she belonged. Peyton would be begging for his forgiveness before they left this rinky-dink, crap ass town.

But…before they took their leave, he had some unfinished business to attend to.

The jock, the cop, and the writer had to be dealt with. They had to be shown. They had had what was his and he couldn't let that stand. He was going to be the only one breathing to know what it felt like to be loved by Peyton Sawyer.

A thin smile began on his face.

This was going to be great. Absolutely gratifying, Derek thought to himself. This may very well be the best time of his life. He'd been promising himself a vacation for months.

The smile fell from his face and he watched the writer heft an axe over his shoulder into the air only to bring it down slicing a log clean in two, its pieces shooting out at either side.

"_I'll make that one hurt the most_." He thought. The writer had to be the one to feel the most pain. The writer was the one that his wife dreamed about. It was the writer's name that Peyton spoke in her sleep.

Derek clenched his hand into a tight fist, his knuckles turning white. He would smash the writer last and take supreme pleasure in inflicting his wrath on Lucas Scott.

"I hope to hell the bastard fights back."

-

He sat on the porch, a frosted can of soda sat on the step below him between his legs. His forearms rested on his thighs. Fingers linked together, his hands were behind his head.

_I want to so badly to hold her._

"Lucas?"

His head shot up and he managed a weak smile.

"I didn't tell him to come, Luke."

He sipped from the can and saw the look of worry pass over her face. He tired no to be pissed. He lilted the can out toward her.

"What's on the front is what's inside." He told her. It was like he hadn't been sober for the last few years.

She pulled something out of her back jean pocket and unfolded it.

"What's it say about our friendship that I have to use and ad in the paper as an opening to come and see you? Speak to you without the aid of your answering machine?"

He jerked his shoulder in a shrug. "You don't." He scratched Simon behind the ears before he stood. He walked down to the steps and over to the wood pile. He'd put an ad in the paper for fire wood for the coming colder months. He wasn't charging anything, he didn't need the money. He'd been about to drop a few boxes at the church and the down at Skills and Bevin's, but he'd been side tracked by the thoughts in his mind and had needed to sit down.

"You know you don't need an excuse to come see me, Hales."

"You don't pick up the phone when I call, Luke. You don't call me. Why should I be the only one doing all the damn work?"

He sighed. "I wouldn't have to screen your calls if you weren't constantly trying to pimp your husbands attributes." Lucas began throwing wood into a box.

_May as well make one more stop._

"Things are different now, Luke." Haley spoke quietly.

"No they aren't, Haley." Lucas hefted the box, sliding it into the cab of his truck. "Things may be different between the two of you, but they're exactly the same between him and me." He grabbed another box and started to fill it.

"You're wasting you time trying to change it."

"No, I'm not." Haley shook her head vehemently. "Why is it so wrong for me to want the two men in my life not to be at odds?"

He slid the next full box into the truck. "Nothing is wrong with it, Hales. Lucas touched a hand to her curling, dark gold hair. "It's just not going to happen."

"Why?"

"Haley, leave it alone." Lucas's voice nearly pleaded. "Please."

"Tell me why, Lucas."

He scraped a hand through his hair. He didn't want to do this with her.

"Tell me why, Luke."

"I don't want that guy in my life, okay!" He exploded. Pissed that he had shouted at her, he kicked at a piece of wood on the ground, then, unsatisfied, Lucas picked the piece of wood up and launched it. He plowed all ten fingers through his hair.

Fuck!

He turned back to his friend. "Haley, I can't understand why you just can't leave this alone."

"I can't leave it, Luke."

"You need to." He told her. "I need you to."

"And I need you to get over the past!" Haley closed her eyes to gather herself then opened them again.

"What the hell is going on here, Hales?" Lucas asked his voice steely quiet. "Why do you want this so damn much?"

"Want?" She almost laughed. "I need this, Lucas."

"Why?"

"Because I'm pregnant." She said.

For a moment, he was stunned, and then a feeling washed over him that he hadn't felt in a long time. A feeling that the though had been forever lost to him.

Happiness.

Lucas gathered Haley into his arms carefully. Picking her up, he swung her around in a circle once then sat her back down. He cupped her face in his hands.

"You're going to be an amazing mother, Haley James." He kissed her forehead. "So proud of you."

She lifted her hands to his wrists. "I want my baby to have his uncle." She told him. You're important to me, Lucas. I love you."

He stepped away from her. "I love you, too, Haley. And I'll give your baby the same love that Keith gave me, but I can't have your husband in my life."

"Why, Luke?"

"Because he's apart of the dark I'm trying to stay away from." Lucas spoke before he could stop himself. He knew that he should keep his mouth shut. Haley was pregnant and didn't need the stress, but she would stress over why if she didn't know.

"I'm trying to stay away from that, Haley. I can't change my past or who I am. And Nathan, our history, is a big part of it. I don't like myself or the way that I feel around him because he's the guy you loved enough to marry.

"Maybe he is the better man because he can table it for you in small doses and I can't do it for you at all. But that's just the way that it is, Haley.

"I'm going to be there for you and your baby if you still want me to be. But Nathan and I aren't going to be brothers the way that you want us to be."

"How about the way I need you to be?"

Lucas shook his head. "Stop pushing this, Hales." He told her. "Stress is not good for you, and it's not good for the baby. Does Nathan know?"

She shook her head and replied, "No."

Shit.

"He went on a job after coming to see you. He'll be home tonight. I didn't mean to tell you first-"

"He doesn't need to know that you did. I won't tell him."

"You're apart of my family, Lucas." Her voice broke. He felt his own throat tighten. "At first I wanted you and Nathan to swallow this because of me, because I needed you to. Now? Now I need you to for my baby."

"And I'm sorry, Hales. I'm so sorry that I can't do this for you." Lucas told her. "But I don't want to be Nathan Scott's brother. I can't, and I need you-" He put his hands on her shoulders; she looked up at him with sad eyes that broke his heart.

"I need you," Lucas said again, his voice near whisper. "I need you to let this go. Please."

Tears spilled from Haley's eyes, trekked down her cheeks and fell to the ground between them.

"I can't."


	4. Chapter 4

Because He Loved Her

And OTH Fanfic

By AlexB

Four

"…_Seen talent this great since Nathan Scott and his brother Lucas. The one two combo that led the Ravens of their time to the championship and the win. I'm seeing both of those men in this boy tonight. TH could very well be on their way to another championship. The gold that has eluded the Ravens since the time of Whitey Durham and the Scott brothers."_

Lucas stood off in the far corner watching the game and the player that played the game with such poetry. Even that though that time hadn't been all that great for him, it hadn't been all that bad either. When the people around him cheered at the mention of him, Nathan and Whitey and the championship that they had come together for and won, he tipped his glass in salute.

They'd kicked so much ass that year.

"Nice to see you out of your cave, Scott." Lucas raised his brow at Brooke. "I came to see you this morning when I dropped off the wood."

"Social gathering, Luke. You came out." She pointed out to him. "Progress. It's a beautiful thing."

Lucas drank down the rest of his water. "I still bleed the black and blue."

"Me too."

"Till the day I die."

"Tree Hill High," Brooke added with a grin.

"Black and Blue pride." They looked over to see Jake a few steps away.

"I say, Mr. Jagielski," Brooke looked the man up and down. "Have you nothing that makes you look any less than good?"

Jake looked down at his clothing. It was just jeans, a t-shirt, boots and his jacket. He looked at Brooke, his brows raised. When she grinned at him then winked, Jake cleared his throat glaring Lucas way at the laugh he hadn't managed to cover.

Lucas turned his head back the game, but he caught something out of he corner of his eye. Through the glass, he saw Peyton sitting by the pool. It should have been drained and covered, but the pool still sparkled with blue water. No one would be stupid enough to actually swim in it, but it was still nice to look at.

He made himself look away. He tired to get back into the game, but he kept going back to her. Fuck it, he thought. She was alone when she shouldn't be, and he couldn't stand it not one second longer. Peyton looked so..

"Here," Brooke interrupted his thoughts holding out two cans of soda. Her eyes followed his to Peyton who looked so tortured lost in her own world of hurt. "She's been out there most of the night." She looked up at her friend. "Go to her."

Lucas continued to watch Peyton through the glass. He was going. He took the cans as props. They could drink them or they couldn't. He didn't know why but Lucas felt like he needed a reason to go out there, but he did.

Jake stepped up behind Brooke watching as Lucas made his way toward the fallen woman.

"She's never stopped loving him." Brooke told him as they watched Lucas make his way toward the pool and Peyton. "They saw each other for the first time and-" She shook her head. "It was like I wasn't even in the room." She laughed. "So much heat. So much…pain. They could make a movie about the two of them and every woman on the planet would flock to see it. More than once."

"I'd know." Jake spoke.

"Know what?"

"That you were in the room."

When Brooke turned to look at Jake she nearly did a double take. He had never looked at her that way before, as if he wanted to kiss her first then do a whole lot more. Shiver worked it's way through Brooke and she liked it. When she smiled at him, Jake smiled back touching a finger to her cheek. The crowd around them cheered at the Ravens scored again.

-

Peyton looked up and froze at the shadow coming toward her. Her breath labored out of her and her mind told her to run! But she couldn't move. It was as if she was rooted to where she sat. She opened her mouth to scream, but nothing came out. There was a the thud of something falling, then the sound of rushing footsteps.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

The words sounded like they were underwater. Peyton felt hands on her and flinched so hard she nearly fell into the pool. Lucas held fast fighting against the jolt that slammed through him.

Sonofabitch! His mind raged. When he found that bastard…

"Peyton. Peyton, hey." He took her face in his hands. She was looking at him, but she couldn't see him, her eyes were wide with fear. Lucas knew that she was seeing that piece of garbage she'd married.

She opened her mouth to scream again, but nothing came. She was shaking, shaking so hard her insides had to be rattled. Lucas took off his coat wrapping it around her shoulders. "Peyton," he tried again. "It's Luke. Look at me, baby." He said to her. "It's me. Just me. You're safe, Peyton." He told her over and over.

_"Safe, Peyton. Safe, Peyton. Safe…"_

The words echoed in her mind, slowly the words sank in. She started to come back. Blue. Blue eyes. Blue eyes were staring back at her.

"It's Lucas. Can you hear me?"

Oh. God.

She tired to pull away, but he wouldn't let go.

"Don't," his voice ground out.

"Let me go, Luke." She whispered.

"I'm not going to hurt you." He said to her. "I'm sorry." He said. "I'm sorry I scared you. You thought I was him-"

"Stop it." Peyton pulled away shakily getting to her feet. She stared to move away but noticed the slight weight on her shoulders. It was automatic that she closed her eyes breathing him in. Cedar, soap and man.

_Don't you dare, she told herself._

"Here." She started to pull the coat from around her shoulders. Lucas stopped her, putting his hands on her shoulders. Her eyes closed again as they filled with tears. Peyton wouldn't look at him. Lucas's jaw clenched.

"Keep it on." He spoke to her softly. "It's freezing out here."

She looked up at him now, her hazel eyes dark with something that Lucas couldn't name. "What about you?"

"I'm fine."

"What are you doing here, Luke?"

"The Ravens have an away game." He lifted his shoulder in a shrug. "I don't miss varsity games if I can help it."

"Why did you come out here?"

_Because I needed to touch you. To make sure that you real, that you were really here._

"I came out to bring you something to drink. I dropped the sodas in the grass. Sorry about that."

"I'm going to need something stronger."

"Probably." He nodded. "I can take you back inside," he offered, but she shook her head.

"I'm okay, Lucas."

"No you're not. But neither am I."

She took in the tousled blonde hair on his head and the two day beard on his cheeks and jaw. He wasn't a lanky boy anymore, but a man with brawn. Lucas looked like he could take on anything, but there was such sadness in his eyes. The same sadness she saw in her own.

"Haley," he started. "Is hell bent on Nathan and I forgetting the past and being brothers. I told her that I couldn't do it, that I didn't want to be Nathan's brother. She called me her family."

"You always have-" Peyton clamped her lips shut.

Lucas nodded playing as if he didn't notice. "I shouldn't be telling you this. But Haley's pregnant. She's having a baby. She wants me to be there for her and her child, and I will be. I will be." He spoke more to himself than anyone. "I'll be there for her child the way that Keith was there for me if she and Nathan allow it…

"God, baby, I'm sorry." Lucas moved toward her, but Peyton backed away. "I'm sorry." Lucas said again. "I didn't mean to make you cry."

_What about all the rest?_ The question circled inside her mind._ Don't do this to me, Luke. Don't pull me back in. I can't do it. I can't bare to have to walk away from you again. I'm not strong enough._

"It's okay." She said. "Haley's having a baby. She'll be a good mother."

"I know." He pulled in a breath. "Peyton, I-"

"Don't, Lucas." She closed her eyes. "I couldn't take it if you pitied me."

"Pity?"

She opened her eyes, looking at him. The anger was back making his eyes so dark they looked black.

"I don't pity you Peyton, this was not your fault, none of it." He told her. "You don't know. You can't now how badly I want to find that shit you married and put him under the street."

"Aren't you going to ask?"

"What?"

"Why?" She replied. "Are you going to ask me why I stayed? Why I took it? Why I let the man who was supposed to love me, break me?"

"Oh, Peyton." His voice came softly. "He didn't love you. He couldn't. He couldn't have loved you and have been able to do anything to hurt you. He didn't love you at all."

"Why didn't I see it?" She whispered. "Why did I stay?"

He shook his head. "I don't know, Peyton. I don't know."

_Why did you? His mind raged. Why did you let that bastard hurt you?_

"He never loved you, Peyton." Lucas said again. "And he didn't break you. Not completely or you wouldn't have gotten away." He watched her from where he stood as she moved to the deck table and sat. She looked to small.

_I just want to hold you,_ his voice whispered inside his head. _You don't know how much. You can't know how badly_.

"I keep trying to remember when it was that I stopped loving the man that I married." She didn't look at him as she spoke. She couldn't. "Maybe I never loved him at all. Or maybe still I do and that scares me. What kind of woman, what kind of person, does that make me if I'm still in love with the man who did this to me? What does that say about me?"

"You don't want to go back to that." Lucas grated harshly. _What the hell was she talking about?_ "What in the hell is the matter with you, Peyton? You do _not_ want to go back to that. That is not who you are!"

She whirled on him. "How do you know?!" She shot. "How do you know, Lucas? Me? I don't even know me. Explain to me how you do."

He went to her, kneeling at her side, he wanted to do more so badly, but he settled for taking one of her hands in his.

"I don't believe for one second that you want to go back to that." Lucas told her. "Or that you loved or love the son of a bitch who treated you so badly. I don't believe it. This wasn't like me, or your dad. You couldn't walk away from it because you were scared. You knew what he would do to you if you did

"But you walked this time, Peyton. You got out." Lucas told her. "You're here now, you're home where you belong and you will never be hurt like that again. Do you hear me? Look at me, Sawyer."

She did.

He touched his fingers to her face as she looked back at him with tears in her eyes.

"I'm never going to let anyone hurt you like that again, Peyton, I swear it."

-

It wasn't working.

Lucas sat on the porch. The stars were blinking in the night sky like midnight magic. It was cold enough that he saw his breath every time he exhaled. Simon sat beside him. His feet propped up on the porch's banister, Lucas stared off into nothing. He'd caved and had brought a notepad and pen out with him, but he hadn't written a down a damn thing.

He was still in love with her.

Lucas didn't deny it, he didn't refute it. He accepted it. He was still very much in love with Peyton Sawyer and he would love her until the day he died and every day after that.

He would die before he let that bastard put his hands on her again. He would die before he let her be put back in that box.

Titling his head back, Lucas closed his eyes.

"_What do you know, Lucas? Me? I don't even know myself."_

Oh, she knew. Peyton knew. It was still inside her, all she had to do was find it, all she had to do was look.

"Rough night?"

He kept his eyes closed, but he listened to the footfalls of his friend as they echoed up the wooden steps.

"You okay, Luke?"

"No, Jake. I'm not." He looked at his friend. The cold night air blew Jake's dark hair over his scalp and forehead. He hand his hands were shoved into the pockets of his bomber jacket.

"Peyton thinks that she's lost herself." Lucas shook his head. "She's cracked, but she's not broken."

"I know it," Jake nodded. "She needs us to keep her from shattering. Peyton needs to laugh and smile again. She needs-"

"Her father." He looked to his friend. "Does Larry know, Jake?"

"I doubt it." The man replied. "The guy is an even bigger hermit than you. I doubt the man even tried to keep in contact with his daughter or Peyton with him. The two of them haven't been right since for years. Since Anna."

"She needs him."

Jake didn't like the way that Lucas's thoughts were turning.

"Not your place, Scott." He warned him. "Things will either get fixed between Peyton and her father or they'll stay the same. Their choice."

Rising, Lucas went inside, the screen door slapping shut behind him. Jake swore hotly as he followed his friend inside.

"Goddammit, Luke." This hadn't been what he meant when he thought that his friend needed to get off the pot. "Don't do something stupid. Don't do something that you can't take back.

"I know I can't stop you," Jake went on. "But I'm asking you to leave this be. Help me to protect her, but don't risk hurting her again. I don't think that Peyton can take it."

"I just can't sit back and watch her suffer like this, Jake."

"You think that bringing her father in is going to make things better? You could make things worse."

Lucas slammed the refrigerator door shut. He knew Jake had a point, but it didn't mean that he was right. Not about this. Peyton needed him. She needed her father more than she needed anything else. "Weren't you the one who said that Peyton was going to need all of us?"

"Yeah," the man replied. "But I didn't say that she needed us to make things worse. Going to her father isn't going to help, Luke."

"You don't know that it won't."

"You don't know that it will!" Jake shoved a hand through his hair. He didn't want to have to punch Lucas out, but he would be his ass if he went ahead and did this, hurting Peyton even more.

"Larry Sawyer…he's come along way."

"And something like this could send him right back to the hell he's been living in since his wife died. He can pull Peyton back into that. Is that what you want, Luke?"

"You know better than to ask me something like that, deputy." Lucas growled out.

"Good. Leave it alone, Luke."

-

He watched as the last light went off in the house.

She was alone.

What kind of man let his wife close her eyes without him next to her? A stupid man and a half-assed husband.

He'd never done that to Peyton.

When she closed her eyes at night, he had always been next to her, holding her. She felt so good in his arms while she slept. He always loved being so close to her.

Until she spoke another man's name while she dreamed.

Derek's fists clenched on the steering wheel. He was an amazing husband, but Peyton hadn't been any kind of wife. She thought about other men when he was supposed to be the only man in her mind, in her heart, in her soul.

He felt his teeth grind together, sweat beaded on his brow. Clenching his hand into a fist he slammed it into the steering wheel once, twice, three times feeling the skin on his knuckles split. He threw back his elbow smashing it high and hard into the seat's head rest behind him imagining that it was the writer's face he was turning it into a mass of nothing.

He heard his wife's breathless voice in his ears.

"_Lucas."_

"Lucas," he growled. Closing his eyes, Derek let the anger consume him but only for a second before he smacked it back down. He needed his wits about him. His eyes came open slowly and a smile slid across his face.

Hubby was home.

-

Nathan shut off the car's engine and sat. He didn't get out of the car. He needed a minute. Washing his hands over his face he groaned out loud. He couldn't admit it to his wife that he made a mistake, but he had. Her relationship with Lucas wasn't any of his business, but she made it his business when she kept putting that bastard before them. What did Haley expect? For him to just sit by and do nothing while that asshole that claimed to be her best friend hurt her?

No.

He couldn't do that. He wouldn't do it, and it pissed him off that his wife expected him to.

Nathan pushed out of the car and headed through the gate to the back of the house. The pool was closed down and covered for the fall and winter seasons. Already the tarp was dotted with leaves that had died and fallen from the trees. The motion lights click on as he passed and the hair on the back of Nathan's neck stood up. He whirled around expecting to see someone behind him, but there was no one there.

A shiver skittered down his spine. His breath fanned out in front of him as his eyes searched in the dark every bit of the space around him. No one was there, not that he could see. But he had felt someone behind him sure as he had felt his own heart beating wildly in his chest.

"Nathan?"

He spun around. Haley stood in the open sliding glass door. She stepped out completely, the silk of her nightgown barely reaching the bottoms of her thighs. Her dark, burnt blond hair fell to her shoulder and down her back in soft curls. Concern reflected in her dark eyes as she reached out a hand touching his shoulder as she moved near.

"Nathan, what is it?"

"No-Nothing." He rubbed his palms up the and down the skin of his wife's bare arms and shoulders, his eyes still scanning the space around them. He brushed his lips across her forehead still watching when he noticed what she was wearing. Her feet were bare.

"Dammit, Hales," he growled. "It's not exactly summer out there. He took off his coat, wrapping it around her. "You can't be outside half-naked. Are you trying to freeze to death? Looking all good." He muttered the last under his breath.

Haley sighed under her breath. She did not want to do this again. He was tired of fighting with Nathan about this. She'd been waiting for the moment to tell him about the pregnancy, but all they seemed to do was fight. She wasn't budging on this and neither was he. They were at a stalemate.

"Nathan, I do not-" Haley closed her mouth then looked at her husband. "Excuse me, did I hear you right? Was that a compliment, husband? 'Looking all good'?"

"Yeah," he wrapped his arms around her, letting go of a breath he didn't know he held when she didn't pull away from him. "And I would just hate to have to snap that bastard Wilson's neck for staring at you."

"He's a nice man, Nathan."

"He a peeping Tom who's going to get his ass stomped if I catch him sneaking peaks at you again. Look, Hales-"

"Stop." She spoke softly. "I don't want to fight anymore with you tonight." Haley took her husband's hand leading him inside the house. Nathan couldn't stop himself from scanning the place once more before he let his wife pull him inside.

As the sliding door slid shut and the lock clicked home, Derek stepped out of the shadows of the trees.

Cigarette between his lips, he dipped his head, cupping his hands together, flicking the lighter to life lighting the cigarette. He stepped back into the trees as the light in the upstairs bedroom came on. He smiled as the jock peered through the blinds.

Yeah, he'd felt him there and that was just the way that he wanted it.

Anticipation.

Some believed that it was worse that the act itself.


	5. Chapter 5

Because He Loved Her

And OTH Fanfic

By AlexB

Five

"Happy birthday, Haley."

She smiled, but it didn't quite reach her eyes. "Thanks, Mouth." She hugged the man unable to recall a time when the two of them hadn't been friends.

"How much trouble did you get into?"

The man tried not to grimace, but he didn't pull it off. "Some," he lied. His station manager had chewed his ass off and docked his pay for mentioning Nathan during the 11 o'clock highlights of the Ravens last home game.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be." He replied. "Nathan…he made a mistake, but he still helped to get the Ravens to their only championship."

Haley looked to where her husband stood and smiled sadly. He could barely stomach the mention of Whitey Durham's championship team. They were teams and years separated from that and people still looked at Nathan sideways. But he took it.

She moved to stand behind him at the patio door and rubbed a hand up and down his back. Nathan relaxed, a smile pulled at his lips.

He figured the day would happen soon, but not this soon. Just days ago he and Haley were on opposite sides when it came to her best friend. They were still on opposite sides, but this eclipsed all of that.

Haley was pregnant.

She was having a baby.

His wife was going to have his child.

He was going to be a father.

Nothing in life got better than this.

He threaded his fingers the curly strands of the hair that rested at the nape of Haley's neck. He loved it when she wore it down.

"I'll give you a hundred years to stop that." Her voice purred, her eyes sliding closed.

"Only a hundred?"

"Not a second less." She smiled up at him wrapping an arm around her husband's waist. "Why are you standing her all by yourself?"

"Just thinking."

"About what?"

"How I'll be a better father than my own."

"Nathan-"

"It's okay, Hales." He told her. "I can't not think about it, you know? And I'm not saying that I'll be the perfect dad, I know that I won't. But I'll be better than Dan, Haley. I'll be better to our child, daughter or son."

"If we have a girl?"

Nathan blew out a breath. "Then I'll have to buy a gun."

Haley smacked him in the chest, her dark eyes twinkling. "Are you going to be one of those 'my daughter's not dating until she's married' kind of dads?"

"I figure I'd shoot any and all potential boyfriends, and if that doesn't work, then I'll put myself out of my misery."

"Having a daughter won't be that bad."

"It'll be better because she'll have all the best of you."

"Sweet talker," her eyes welled.

"Sometimes, the truth is golden.

"Birthday girl!" Brooke's voice rang through the living room ending the moment. "Hand-a-loose that married man and come say hi to me!"

Haley laughed moving away from her husband. "Duty calls."

"Go have fun."

He stood alone again watching the leaves fall from the trees to the pool tarp when his mind went back to a few nights before. Nathan couldn't shake it. Even now it felt like someone was watching him. The hairs rose on the back of his neck. It used to be that the only place he didn't feel like he was under a microscope was in his own home…until he looked outside.

Now it was like whoever was out there was watching him trying to find them.

He couldn't tell the cops. What could they do? There was no evidence. What he felt in his gut was enough for him, but not for the police. They would think that he was paranoid, or worse, nuts. Nathan couldn't tell his wife. Haley was pregnant, he didn't want her to worry and stress wasn't good for their baby.

Maybe he was off. Maybe this was some figment of his imagination and no one was following him; it was all inside his mind. Maybe he needed to get more sleep.

"Maybe I'm fucking nuts." He muttered under his breath.

That feeling only escalated as he continued to watch the world outside the glass.

"What the hell is going on?"

-

He closed his eyes blowing out a breath. He shouldn't be there. He knew that. Even now Lucas felt like he was suffocating.

He wanted a drink. He could feel the cold sweat bathing his neck.

"_Son?"_

"_Would you give this to my boy?"_

"_I made a mistake, Lucas. I never should have walked away from you and your mother."_

"How long have you been standing out here?"

When his eyes came open, everything fell off his face. The shields went up and he didn't say a word.

Nathan's jaw clenched. One second he'd been staring out into nothing, and the next, there was Lucas. It was like he had come out of nowhere.

"Did you see anyone out here?" He asked him. "Did you bring anyone with you?"

"There's nobody out here but me." Lucas finally spoke. Nathan stared out him trying to figure out where the man was lying to him or not. He couldn't tell either way.

"Didn't expect you to see past yourself and show up."

"It's a mistake I'll have to deal with later." Everything in him told Lucas to turn around leave before he was sucked under; to save himself and let Haley be pissed at him.

He couldn't do this. He could feel the dark coming, snapping at his feet.

"Never should have some here," Lucas spoke the words aloud. He turned to leave, but Nathan followed behind him.

"You son of a bitch," he spat. "You selfish son of a bitch." It was like the words were being said to him from a million years away. His ears were ringing, like a train was running through them. It was coming and this time he might not be able to head it off.

He was being whirled around, instinctively Lucas shoved.

"Back off." His voice ground out. He shook his head hard.

Nathan sneered. "Why did you even get out of bed this morning?" Nathan demanded. "What are you going to do when you see Haley, run?"

"I have the right to decide how I want to live my life. I'm sick and damn tired of having to explain myself. I came here today because it's Haley's birthday. I thought that I could handle it. I can't and I'm leaving."

"You don't think that every time I look at you I don't see the same thing? Feel the same hate? I hear that voice inside my head every day." Nathan told him. "You aren't the only one, so don't give me that crap about not being able to push it aside for Haley. Because I have. I do. Everyday."

"I'm not you. And you don't have a say in how I handle this."

"Lucas?"

-

"Birthday girl!" Brooke called over the voices of the guests in the house. "Hand-a-loose that married man and come say hi to me!"

"Good, sweet, Christ, woman," Jake spoke from behind them. "You do command an audience."

"It's a gift."

"Or a curse."

"You're here aren't you?"

"Only because you're violating the city's sound ordinance," he replied. "Hey, Peyton."

"Hi," Her smiled was soft, hesitant, and didn't begin to reach her eyes, but it was a start. A good start. Jake wanted to pull her aside and tell her that he knew, but he figured it was too late for that. Peyton couldn't look him in the eye. Not for long anyway. She already knew. Telling her that he didn't see her any different wouldn't do any good. Not right now. Maybe not any time soon.

He hated those damn shadows in her eyes.

"Oh please," Brooke slapped a hand across the man's chest catching Jake off guard, bring him back to the present. Even though her back was to him when he winced, he knew that the woman was smirking.

"Happy Birthday, Hales." She was laughing when Jake pulled her into a hug that lifted her off the floor. She could tell by the look on the deputy's face that he had been mixing it up with Brooke. It was so sweet and absolutely hilarious to watch them.

To watch them fall in love.

"You're a good man," Haley's brown eyes twinkled with merriment.

"Yeah, he's a sexy saint." Brooke put in. "Move over gorgeous and hand-a-loose the birthday girl."

Jake could feel his ears heat, but damned if he would admit to being embarrassed…or to liking it so much.

Haley didn't have to work hard not to laugh. Looking at Peyton, she wanted to cry. Not because she looked so sad and nearly broken, but because she was here. She was home, and she'd fully believed that she would never see her friend again.

The shadows told the tale. Peyton had gone through hell. She didn't want to know. All that mattered was that she was home now, where she belonged.

The three of them stood in the hallway crying like girls. Tears turned into laughter when Brooke threatened to slap the hell of out of them both if they made her look like hag with all that "crying" mess.

"You're going to pop that man's head off his neck." Haley's laugh was jerky as she carefully wiped her eyes. Brooke pulled her into a hug grinning.

"Please," she said. "He can take it. Watching him walk away with the sexy man swagger is so worth it." The three of them watched as Jake made his way through the crowd, the swagger was most definitely on display. It wasn't cocky. It was cute.

"He's knows I'm looking at his ass."

This is going to be so good, Haley thought. She was happy for Brooke, and there was no one better on this planet for her friend than Jake. Just like there was no one else good enough for Peyton than Lucas.

A million questions went through Haley's mind. Did Lucas know that Peyton was home? Had he seen her? Did he know? Could they help each other even though they were both so lost?

"I'm so glad that you guys are here." Haley hadn't realized how much she missed her girls, how much she needed them until that moment. "If only Lucas would stop being hermit man."

"This is hard on him, Haley."

"I know," she sighed. "I know. It's just…he makes me so damned angry some times. I just want to haul off and punch him in the nose. This thing with him and Nathan…Dan is dead."

"But it still haunts him." Peyton spoke quietly.

They turned to look at her, but Peyton didn't see them. Her gaze was glued to the outside. He was here, she knew it. She could feel it, feel him, and it scared her. When he stepped back away from Nathan and started to leave, her heart kicked in her chest so heart it hurt.

"Sometimes the ghosts never leave," she spoke more to herself than anyone. "Even if you're strong enough to fight them."

Haley's gaze followed Peyton's and her eyes widened. Nathan and Lucas stood out back. Whatever was being said, Haley wasn't naïve enough to believe that they were settling things between them.

-

"I'm not staying."

"Selfish fuck." Nathan's voice shot.

"Maybe you can give us a minute-"

Nathan whirled on the other man. "You and Haley keep holding his damn hand, and that's his problem."

"You don't know what the hell you're talking about, Nathan." Jake shook his head. "If you did, you wouldn't have made that asshat statement."

"It's her birthday," he said. "That should mean something."

"You're wrong if you think that it doesn't. Things between the two of you will never be water under the bridge and you know it, Nate. You can't give the man credit for showing up, but you can tare into him. You don't want him here anymore than he wants to be here. Just leave it at that."

He could speak for himself. "Jake-"

"I'll get to you, Luke," the deputy said without sparing the man a glance. "Do the both of yourselves a favor and leave it. If it's not too much to ask, maybe you can tell your wife that someone is here to see her."

"This is going to stop, Lucas." Nathan told him. "One way or another."

He waited until the door slid completely closed before turning to his friend, looking him over. "How long did it last this time?"'

"Leave it alone."

"Why don't you take what your doctor gave you, Luke?"

"They've got a damn pill for everything, Jake." He snapped. "And if it's alright with you, I would rather not depend on them for every problem I have."

He was embarrassed. "Luke-"

"I don't take the sleeping pills either." Lucas told him. "I still manage to close my eyes. I'm fine." He snapped the rubber band on his wrist. "This one just snuck up on me is all." Jake watched Lucas closely. His anger over road his anxiety.

"It's good that you came, Luke."

"It was a mistake." It was too much all at once.

"No it wasn't."

"I came here because I was going to bury it, but it doesn't work like that, Jake. I can feel the hole sucking at my feet."

"It's not going to pull you under. You know that."

"I don't."

"It's not, Lucas." His friend told him. "You won't let it."

"She won't listen. She keeps pushing it."

"She's Haley."

"But this is my life." Lucas told him. "This is my sanity, and I just barely got it back. I would like to keep it." He shook his head. "I can't go back to that. I don't want to hurt her, Jake."

"So don't."

The men looked over at Haley as she slid the door closed. She had watched from inside waiting to talk to Lucas. She hadn't trusted him not to leave when Jake stopped speaking. Jake left them to it, but for long moments neither Lucas nor Haley spoke.

"Happy Birthday."

"Thank you."

He nodded.

"You are such an ass."

Lucas didn't know why he wanted to smile, but the urge was there.

"Better than the answering machine, right?"

He sighed. "Haley-"

"I get it."

"No you don't." He shook his head. "You can't even begin to. But that's not why I'm here. It's why I won't be back."

"Luke,"

"Leave it." He told her. "I don't want to fight with you, Hales. Please."

She nodded, pressing her lips together.

"I thought about bringing you something for the baby, but it's not her birthday."

"Her?"

"Well, yeah." Lucas smiled. "You'll have a smart ass just the same as you mom."

"Thanks."

"Anytime."

"What'd you get me?"

"My presence not enough?"

"Just hand over the loot."

He pulled the jewelry box from his pocket. "It's not much, but you never have been flashy. You can add things to it…charms."

She nodded tearing, holding the necklace in her hands. "My mom has one. Thank you so much, Luke."

He nodded absently. It had been like that for years, like a part of him had been gone.

He needed her.

"She's here." Haley told him. Lucas's head came up.

"Peyton," Haley went on. "She's here."

He looked toward the house. Something flashed in his eyes, Haley's breath caught and a smile bloomed inside.

"I could…" but he was shaking his head. Haley frowned, but Lucas ignored it. He'd come and did what he needed to do. Peyton needed people around her that weren't skirting the edge and Lucas wasn't one of them right now. He'd see her, but not until he settled down, cleared his head.

"Happy Birthday, Hales." He kissed her cheek.

"Lucas st-"

"Don't ask me to do that, Haley."

-

"Lucas."

The man who stood inside the door looked every bit the age he was. His once burnt auburn hair was heavily streaked with gray. His brown eyes were sad. The lines around them weren't from smiling, nor were the ones that bracketed his mouth.

Grief, remorse, regret, guilt, it was all there, but Lucas searched for more. He searched for knowledge. He wanted, no, he needed to know whether or not this man knew about the life his daughter had been trapped in while she was away from Tree Hill. He needed to know whether or not he had been stupid for this past almost two years.

Jake had been right. Larry Sawyer was a hermit, but he made his meetings weekly. Lucas knew because he made them too, and he was the one that Larry called when the walls started to cave in. Not because Lucas was any better off than he, but because they had a connection.

They had a connection in Peyton.

He couldn't read anything in the older man's gaze. Lucas held out his hand.

"Larry." He spoke. The man reached for his hand, but he had been trying to read something in Lucas, too. And he knew that something wasn't right.

He stepped back to let the younger man in.

"Get you something to drink?"

"No."

"What's on your mind, Lucas?"

"Have a seat, Larry."

"No, Goddammit." The man ground out harshly. "You tell me what the hell is going on before I boot your skinny blonde ass out of my house and on the front lawn."

"Larry-"

"What the fuck is going on, Scott? I'm not going to ask you again."

"Peyton's home."

Lucas waited for the man to say something, but he didn't speak. Tears threatened, they glistened in his eyes and he looked at Lucas as if he didn't believe him, as if he as afraid to.

"She's home."

Larry Sawyer sat down hard in the chair behind him. He felt like he had been kicked in the stomach then punched in the heart.

Peyton was home.

His baby was back.

He found himself staring at an old framed snapshot of his wife Anna and a then four year old Peyton looking back at him with her mother's eyes. They looked so much alike with their matching hazel eyes and all over the place blonde hair that you wouldn't have known that Peyton was adopted unless you asked.

In the photo they were in the kitchen at the table. The both of them were marked with finger paint. Peyton's tiny little girl hand was covered in it as she reached out toward the camera.

The image blurred as tears overcame him. He indulged himself in what had been and could have been for only seconds before he brushed the tears away.

"When?" He rasped then cleared his throat.

"About a week ago."

Larry's eyes shot to the younger man. They were full of accusation. He shot from the chair and shoved Lucas so hard he slammed into the wall behind him.

Lucas's eyes shot back blue flame fire, but he didn't move.

"A week!" Larry shouted! "My daughter's been home a goddamn week and you just now make your way here to tell me about it?"

"Yeah."

"Yeah?" He advanced on him again. "Yeah?!"

"Yeah!" Lucas shouted back. He shoved the older man out of his space. "What did you expect me to do, race over here and tell you just as soon as I knew?"

"You're goddamn right! Common courtesy-"

"Fuck courtesy!" Lucas balled his hand into a fist then made himself let it loose. He pointed a finger at the man.

"I didn't tell you because I needed time to digest it myself. I didn't tell you because at first I didn't know how to tell you or what to tell you. I didn't tell you sooner because I thought that Jake was right. When he told me, he gave it to me straight. Now I'm going to give it to you. He doesn't think that you should know at all, that you being your charming assed self will take the whole situation a hell of a lot worse and make it about you. But me, I say fuck that."

"Fuck that?"

"Fuck that." Lucas repeated. "You're her father and you deserve to know." Lucas stepped close to the man. They were almost nose to nose.

"I'm going to tell you, Larry, but if you back pedal, if you slide back into that bottle, you're going to piss me off and I'm going to completely forget that you're damn near a senior citizen and put a hurt on your ass so fierce you won't have to think twice about not tasting another drop."

He waited as the man swallowed. Lucas wanted him to know that he was serious.

Larry nodded, but Lucas still waited.

"Okay," the man spoke. "Tell me."

"She left him," Lucas spoke after a beat. His eyes told Peyton's father the answer to the question he knew was bouncing off the walls inside his mind. He wouldn't tell Larry unless he asked.

"Why?"

"Because that son of a bitch put his hands on her for the last damn time."

-

"Peyton?"

She looked up from her hands and her mouth fell open. She closed it and slowly stood. She watched as Brooke rubbed her hand down her father's arm. With one last look for Peyton for reassurance, she left the two of them alone.

"Hey there, sweet girl."

Peyton swallowed hard. "Hi dad-"

She didn't get the rest of his name out as she was enveloped in her father's arms in a fierce hug. She breathed him in. He smelled the way he had when she had been so young, like chocolate candy and outside air.

Larry pulled back and held his daughter's face in his hands. He didn't believe that it would ever happen, but it was real. His girl was home.

"You've come to stay?"

She nodded. "I'm home." He looked old but better than the last time she had seen him. His hair was mostly gray. Gray hairs weaved throughout his beard, but his eyes, eyes that had held so much sorrow and sadness the last time she had seen his face where bright now. The shadows were still there but they were being edged out by her father's determination.

He was fighting his way back.

A smile broke out on her face. Peyton felt tears begin behind her eyes. She didn't think that it would ever happen. She didn't think that her father knew how to make it without his wife, her mother, and he hadn't proved her wrong in all those years, but he was doing it now.

"How did you know?"

"Lucas."

_What?_

"What? Lucas came to you?"

Her father nodded. "Yes. Sit." They sat on the couch.

"I'm probably going to catch hell from that damn Scott boy for telling you this, but I can handle him."

-

Lucas turned right into a fist.

He stumbled backward and over the banister of the porch and hit the ground below hard. The breath was knocked from his body. He groaned as it slowly came back. He heard a growl and thought that it had come from him.

It had come from behind him.

Once his ears stopped ringing, Lucas pushed himself to his feet. He timed it just right. Pivoting, he turned with his fist cocked back and let loose punching his cop friend right in his damn face.

Jake stumbled back. Lucas charged, throwing his body at the dazed man. They fell to the ground curisng and grappling. Lucas took a forearm to his face. It glanced off his cheek snapping his head back and clicking his teeth together. When he tasted the blood in his mouth that pissed him off all the more.

He grabbed Jake by the shirt collar, ripping the material, and drew his fist back again. Jake yowled then roared in outrage as he felt Lucas pop a naked fist in his eye.

"Goddammit!"

He snatched Lucas by his own collar and flipped his dumb self over his head and on to the ground so that he was lying on his back looking up at the cold blue, cloud dotted sky.

That didn't last long as Lucas was again pushed himself to his feet only to be backed up against his seven foot tall wood fence with an arm over his windpipe.

"You goddamned idiot!"

"Get off me Dudley Do Right before I kick your funny hat wearing ass."

"You flippin' moron! What…Didn't I…Fuck!" Jake let him go and stomped away. He stomped back.

"I-" he growled. "You don't-" Jake was so mad he couldn't get his words out. He kicked at a stray piece of wood and sent it flying.

"You sucker punched me."

"You went to Larry Sawyer after I asked you not to!"

"He needed to know, Jake."

"She needs to be protected, Lucas. Peyton's can't deal with her father's demons and her own too."

"Peyton isn't some fragile damn flower, Jagielski!" Lucas snapped. "You may think that she is, but she's not. She's strong. Now that woman may not believe it yet, but goddammit, it's there. And Larry-"

"Is Larry Sawyer."

"Yeah." Lucas pushed away from the fence. "He's been battling back for the past year and a half. And it's like you said. Peyton is going to need us, and she is. But she's going to need him too. He's her dad, Jake. He's her dad and he needs her. I-" Lucas pulled in a breath.

"I owe them, Jake." He said. "She tried to save me and I wouldn't let her. You think my life began again after I played chicken with a tree and won? It didn't. Larry Sawyer made me care when he was still determined not to give a shit about his own life. He's not going to pull her under."

"You don't know that!"

"Yes, dammit, I do!" Lucas shouted back. "Stop being such a fucking cop and open your eyes."

"_Are we interrupting?"_

_-_

He held a bottle to his bruised cheek.

_I should go in there right now and tattoo my Wolverines all over Jake Jagielski's stupid face._

But he wasn't about to sit in jail because his friend, and he used the term loosely, was a tyrannical assclown.

There was a wrestling sound beside him as the cooler was opened and something was fished out.

"Here," her voice spoke softly next to him.

Lucas opened his eyes. Peyton stood steps away but still close enough to reach out and touch. She held a frosted over grape soda in her hand. She held it out to him.

"A fresh one."

They traded off but Lucas didn't press the frosted glass to his face. He didn't take his eyes off her. He was probably making her uncomfortable, but at the moment, Lucas didn't care. She looked a whole lot better than the last time he had seen her, even with the shadows in those beautiful eyes.

He had always liked it when she wore her hair loose. Unconsciously he rubbed the pad of his thumb over the tips of all his other fingers. She wore jeans, black boots, and a white girl-shirt over a black shirt and an open leather jacket. When she tucked her hair behind her ears she looked away. Little gold hoop earrings winked from her earlobes.

He pressed the glass to his cheek and leaned back in his chair, sprawling his legs out in front of him.

"I should be mad at you," she said. "But I can't make myself be."

"He needs you, Peyton." Lucas lifted his shoulder in a shrug. "You need him. He'd been working up the nerve to call you for months."

She nodded. "He told me." The look in her eyes spoke volumes. Father and daughter relationships hadn't been the only thing that Larry and his daughter had talked about.

"Did you mean what you said about your life beginning again because of my dad?"

"How much did you hear?"

"Answer me." She said softly.

He scowled, winced then nodded. "Messed up as he was, your dad helped me."

"You helped him to you know."

"Your father is one ornery son of a bitch."

"You should hear what he says about you." A smirk kicked up the side of his mouth. Peyton found herself smiling too, but that smile slowly faded away.

"Did you tell him, Luke?"

"No." He lied with clear eyes.

They got caught up in each other, staring, finding the many changes since they had been together last. Peyton broke that connection, clearing her throat she asked, "You and Jake-"

"Jake Jagielski thinks that because he wears that UPS brown suit, that goofy Walker the Texas Ranger damn hat and that cereal box badge, that he's right all the time. Well, he's not dammit." He muttered, "not that you could tell him that," under his breath.

"Are you sure you're friends?"

"Frankly, I don't know how the whole mess happened myself, but there it is." He muttered under his breath again.

"What?"

"I said he sucker punched me." Lucas looked toward the opening screen door as Simon made his way out.

"Some cop you are."

"_He's retired,"_ Jake commented from inside. "_Ouch! Dammit girl! Ease up!"_

"_Oh hold still you big baby." Brooke chided. "Lemme kiss it better."_

"_I can take you in for sexual harassment."_

"_You know you like it."_

"Needs to just kiss that woman and get it over with." Lucas shook his head wincing when he made the mistake of grinning.

"That would just make it worse." Peyton commented.

"Maybe, but he would love it even more." Lucas popped the top on the glass he'd held to his face and took a long drink. "Being home, back with Brooke again…it's working. You…you look real good, Peyton. And I'm glad."

"Thank you will never be enough, and there are no other words. You've been good for my father, Lucas."

Lucas shrugged his shoulder again. He didn't look away from her, and refused to let her look away from him.

"Don't mention it."

He wanted to go to her. He needed to go to her, to feel her close to him. He just…he just…

The screen door slammed open shattering the moment. Jake stepped out straightening the collar of his shirt. Peyton chose that moment to leave. She moved around Jake and into the house. Lucas's eyes followed her until the door slapped shut behind her.

He made himself stay where he was sipping his grape soda.

"You missed a spot."

Jake paused in the act of rubbing his thumb over his lower lip. He glanced at Lucas. Lucas stared back.

"You're an ass." Jake told him. "And you have a head harder than Plymouth Rock."

"I'm not wrong about this, Jake. Not this time."

The other man nodded.

Lucas downed the rest of his drink, tossed the bottle into his recycling bin, then tipped his chair back so two of it's legs were off the ground and his shoulders rested against the side of the house.

"So, Deputy Dog….What areas of my kitchen do I need to disinfect?"

-

That bitch!

She was there. At Lucas Scott's home tending to his wounds. He should have taken care of the both the writer and cop while they'd been rolling around on the ground like a couple of idiots.

"No, no." He told himself. It was better this way. He wanted to take his time and relish what was going to happen.

He still loved her. He could see it all over the man's face. And his wife, the cheating slut, she still loved him too. Well they wouldn't have each other.

All of this was her fault. Lucas Scott was going to die slow and painful and it was all Peyton Somers' fault. He was going to make her watch as the life slowly drained from her "first love's" body. Then she would see.

She would see.


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note: This is to all the readers who have stuck by this story and wanted more. I'm sorry guys, I just didn't have it in me. Life has gotten in the way of a lot and my muse has been completely smashed by the show that is airing now. Fic is the only hope I guess. lol. So I'm trying to get back in it. Here's to hoping that it works.**

**~Alex.**

Because He Loved Her

And OTH Fanfic

By AlexB

Six

"I'm sorry." He said. "I should have come sooner, but I couldn't. Not the way that I was. I wanted-No. I needed to feel solid on my own two feet before I could face you.

"I know," he went on. "You're pissed. I would be too if I had to watch you fall apart and there was nothing that I could do about it; but I'm fixing it, Mom." Lucas spoke, the cool autumn air blowing through the blond strands of his hair.

"I'm fixing it." He told her. "I'm trying to fix it. Today is a good day. And no," he went on as if the woman was standing right next to him instead of six feet under the ground beneath him, as if he wasn't talking to a slab of cement that bore her name.

"I haven't seen Keith." Lucas told her. "I can't. Not now, and maybe not for the next little bit. I'm angry at him," he admitted. "No I'm pissed off. He gave up, Mom, and I hope that you're giving him hell up there.

"I miss you so much it hurts. It feels like it's just me now. Yeah, I have Jake and I have Brooke, and Haley. But I don't. We aren't kids anymore. She married Nathan and I can't be close to that; to him. I don't know how to beat that thing down between us, or if I even want to. Haley believes that just because Dan is roasting on a spit in hell that all is right with the world and that Nathan and I should be brothers, be family.

Lucas shook his head.

"But I can't do it." He said. "It's a part of the dark. He's a part of the dark, and the only way that I can survive right now is to stay away from it. I wish that Haley could understand. I need her you know? She's Hales. But I won't make her choose.

"She's having a baby. I know, wild right? She'll be good at it; the best. I should swallow this for her, but…" He let the sentence trail off.

"Do me a favor," he asked. "Watch over Larry Sawyer for me would you? He's a crotchety son of a-" Lucas cleared his throat. "He's good man who has his bad days…real bad days…and sometimes he needs a little more help than most. Watch over his daughter, too. Peyton…she's…"

She's…what?

Special? Amazing?

Mine, he thought.

"She's going through so much. She'll make it. She will." He had to smile. "She's strong. Stronger than even she believes, but she'll make it."

Lucas knelt; brushing a finger of the picture of his mother's smiling face. "I miss you so much, Mom." He blew out a breath. "Words can't express how much I miss you. Every day.

No matter how much he needed her, how much he wanted his mother with him now, if he had t choose between her suffering in some hospital with Cancer eating away at her; her body in pain day after day, Lucas would rather his mother be there in the cemetery. He would rather she be gone away from him forever. He would rather she be at peace.

He wiped the tears from his face with a hand, sniffing, he cleared his throat.

"I'll be back." The wind blew at his body, swirling and fallen leaves around his feet. He nodded.

"Yeah, I know." He said. "I love you, too."

Turning to leave, he froze.

-

"Jagielski, line 3."

Jake snatched up the receiver leaning back in his chair. "Jagielski."

"Deputy, Detective Ames Charleston PD. You called inquiring about one Derrick Somers?"

Jake sat up in his chair.

"Yes sir."

"In regards to?"

"You called me." Jake's tone turned brisk. "So do us both a favor and stop dicking around. You got something to say to me, something that I need to hear, cut the bull and say it." He already knew. Inside, Jake knew.

There was a pause, then, "We're looking into a series of crimes in our area."

"What kind of crimes?"

"Assault, sexual assault, attempted rape, stalking."

Jake closed his eyes rubbing a tired hand over them. Who the hell was this man that Peyton married?

"It could be a case of mistaken identity."

"But you don't think so." Not a question, a statement, because Jake didn't think so either.

"No," the man on the line confirmed. "We just don't have the proof. We can't get this guy on a maybe. Not all of the women involved picked him out of a line up, and some of them who did couldn't be for sure positive, one hundred percent.

"Look, Deputy, the reason why I'm calling is because Somers is missing."

"Missing!" Jake shot up from his chair so fast is slammed back into the wall behind him effectively causing instant quiet in the room around him as all eyes were trained his way.

"What do you mean missing?"

"I mean that he was let out on bail and we can't find him. He hasn't been at his place or at wor-"

"You mean you got lazy." Jake snapped. "The guy you suspect of committing various crimes against women in your town makes bail and you don't keep up with him? His wife is here in Tree Hill." Jake spat the words through gritted teeth. His jaw was locked so hard it felt like it would snap under the tension.

"She has a restraining order on the son of a bitch. Professional courtesy would have had you picking up the damn phone when you knew that he was cut loose."

Every eye was still on him. He was always the one with the smile on his face, but Jagielski was ice, they said, when it came to a case. He had the control on the job. But his was different. This was family, his family, and he did not appreciate would be professionals screwing up and endangering what was his.

"Jagielksi-"

"I called that goddamn station house more than once wanting an update on Somers and no one got back to me, let alone to let me know that that was out and waking free. When?"

"Same day."

"Same-" He wanted to throw something. He wanted to reach through the receiver and choke the ass on the other end. "What the hell is going on over there?!" He demanded.

"Look, Charleston is a big city, we can't keep track-"

"Then I suggest you find a new profession." Jake cut in. "This comes back…if Derrick Somers ends up in Tree Hill coming after what he believes is his because you can't do your damn job, you and me…we're going to have a problem."

"Now you listen to me, you little asshole." The detective's voice grated. "Don't you tell me how to do my job."

"You didn't do your damn job. If you had Somers' wife would have known that he was walking free."

"It would be in your best interest not to threaten me again, Deputy."

"If Somers makes an appearance, harms Peyton Sawyer, or anyone else in my town, in any way…you may as well get ready for me Detective Ames of the Charleston P.D."

Jake slammed the receiver down in its cradle.

Son of a bitch.

Snatching up his coat, he stormed out of the sheriff's office.

-

"Peyton."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean…"

Lucas shook his head. "No, it's fine." He cleared his throat, glancing away then back at her not liking that she was watching him so intently.

"What are you doing here?"

"Visiting mama." Her voice was soft, flowing over him like a caress. He nodded, but couldn't meet her gaze. She didn't need him to. She could feel his pain just the same as she could feel her own. It came off of him in waves.

She wanted to reach out and somehow Lucas knew that. He made himself take a step back. He love nothing more than to feel Peyton's hands on him, soothing him, settling him, loving him.

But he couldn't.

He couldn't let her touch him because he would take. He would take too much and she needed what she had to fight her way back.

He looked tired, she thought silently. He hadn't shaved. Three day stubble looked really good on him though.

"How have you been?"

That pulled a small smile from him. "I should be asking you." He said. "How are you, Peyton?"

Her reply clogged in her throat as Lucas watched her now. Those blue eyes locked on her, so intense, it nearly stole her breath. She swallowed, opened her mouth to speak, but the words would not come. Something flashed in those eyes then. Something dangerous.

Lucas whirled, his eyes scanning the graveyard. What the hell was going on? He didn't see anything or anyone, but that didn't mean shit. He'd felt someone's eyes on him for weeks. He knew that someone was there. His breath sounded loud in his ears and alarms went crazy in his head.

He didn't feel Peyton's hand touch his shoulder, but he felt the fear that splintered through her. He hadn't meant to scare her. She gripped one of his hands in both of hers as Lucas' eyes kept searching. Her voice behind him pulled him back.

"Take me home."

He nodded but kept searching. Something was not right and he knew, he knew what that something was.

"Take me home," she said. "Please."

When he looked back at Peyton, the look in her eyes said she knew it too, and he hated that. She was frightened he saw, but she refused to let it knock her down. Determination flashed in those gold-green eyes.

"Did you come alone?"

She nodded, flinching when Lucas swore ripely.

"Don't do that," he growled out. "Don't ever be afraid of me. I would die before I hurt you again."

She was shaking her head. "Lucas-"

"Where's your car?"

"Garage, tune-up." She explained. "I didn't think that I would be long. Did you bring your car?"

He shook his head. He had walked. Call it good exercise. Lucas hadn't been able to stand being cooped up in his car and chopping wood to bits hadn't helped today.

"We're going to the garage to wait for your car then I'm taking you home to Brooke."

"He's here."

"We don't know that."

"I know it!" Her voice rose hysterically. She paused, closing her eyes trying to calm herself. "Don't patronize me, Lucas." She told him. "It's like I can feel him watching me."

Lucas took her face in his hands. "Peyton-"

"Take me home."

His head fell to hers. She shuddered with both fear and determination, Lucas knew. Wrapping his arms around her, he pulled her to him fully. She buried her face in his neck, bunched his shirt in hers fists.

"He can't hurt you here, Peyton." He told her. "I won't let him."

"Take me home."

-

"Oh, Peyton." Derrick sighed as anger sliced through him quick and fast as he watched his wife and the writer embrace. "You've killed him. You've killed him over and over again, Mine."

She knew and soon he would too.

"That's right, Lucas. I'm here and soon it'll be me and you. It's a long time coming too, you son of a bitch."

He watched them leave, incensed at the hand the writer had at his wife's waist. The hand that she let him keep there; like it belonged there.

"Just a little while longer, mine. Then you'll be back where you belong."

Derrick flicked his cigarette at Keith Scott's tombstone as he walked out of the cemetery.

He always wanted to watch a house being built.

It was getting harder and harder to just forget his plans and do what he really wanted, but his pride wouldn't let him. He had to end the jock first because he had been the first. He had to be the first.

"Not long now, mine." He spoke watching Lucas and Peyton walk up the block. "Not long now."

-

Jake slammed out of his truck. He hadn't thought to call, to make sure that they were home. Brooke's snazzy car was parked in the drive.

"Peyton?" Brooke came around the side of the house in a pair or worn faded jeans, a white T-shirt with a flannel over the top.

"Are you wearing flannel?"

Her hazel eyes flashed. "I'm raking leaves thank you very much, Deputy. Since when did you become the fashion police?"

He shook his head. "Never mind that."

"What's happened?"

"Derrick is free and those assholes in Charleston-"

"He's out? How?"

Jake shook his head. He didn't want to get into it. "He's been out since Peyton has been here. Where is she, Brooke?"

"Oh, God. She took her car to the garage for maintenance."

"Alone?" Fuck me, the thought.

"We didn't know her husband was out on stupidity."

"Bail."

"Bail? They let his abusing ass out on bail!" The woman railed. "You might as well tell me all of it Jagielski."

"All you need to know is that the Charleston police are a bunch of sloppy bastards."

"We don't even know if he's here." Brooke tried to reason.

"I'm not taking any chances."

She'd never seen Jake before in cop mode. It added something to him that set him further and further apart from the rest of the men that she had been accustomed to.

"What?"

Brooke shook her head, for some reason she couldn't form words, but that was okay because her brain seemed to be offline anyway.

They turned, the moment broken, at the sound of Peyton's car pulling up in front of the house. Jake was relieved to see Lucas behind the wheel. Peyton wasn't alone, but she wasn't okay either.

Brooke saw that too. "What happened?" He had the door open and Peyton in her arms before Jake could even reach the woman. Peyton said nothing; her eyes were aimed at the ground. Jake could see from where he stood that she had been crying. He could also see shame. He turned away from them, anger starting in him one again. His cop eyes fell on his friend. He watched Lucas watch Peyton.

"Luke-"

The two men walked to the side of the house. Lucas kept looking over the deputy's shoulder at Peyton.

"He's out."

Lucas looked at Jake. No way in hell he had heard right.

"What?" He thundered. Calming himself when the women looked their way. "When?"

"Same day."

"And those clowns in Charleston didn't think to call? They know where Peyton is." Lucas slammed his fists into the wood fence beside him. He shook his head. "He's here. I know it."

Jake body jumped on full alert.

"Did you see him."

"No,"

"Lucas-"

"He's here, Jake." Lucas told him. "I've been feeling that son of a bitch on the back of my neck for weeks. Someone was there in the cemetery today. It was him."

"We can't be sure." Jake replied, trying to be diplomatic as Lucas had been before, but not believing the words that came out of his mouth. "We can't be sure, Luke."

"It was him, Jake. We have to protect Peyton, and Brooke. There's no way that she's leaving Sawyer's side. You were right. Dammit," he hissed. "She doesn't need this, Jake."

"We knew that he wouldn't just let her walk away from him. Guys like that don't get 'no'." Jake stressed, holding up a hand to stop the words that were just itching to come out of his friend's mouth.

"Stay here with them until I'm off duty. If Somers' is here and is stupid enough to try something, he's going to wish he stayed his ass in Charleston." Jake started to leave but turned back.

"Keep an eye on, Davis." Jake told him. "That woman has a gun and she has been just itching to use it. Last thing I need is to haul her in for shooting off a firearm inside city limits.

Lucas nodded as the men rounded the side of the house. Brooke stood on the porch waiting her eyes narrowed on Jake who just stared back. "Peyton's inside." She told them. Jake started up the steps. He and Brooke spoke, their voices low. Lucas couldn't make out what they were saying. He wasn't paying attention to them anyway.

He was watching, searching from where he stood. He was sure what was in the dark now. He knew what was out there.

"You'll never hurt her again." Lucas swore. "Never again."


	7. Chapter 7

Because He Loved Her

And OTH Fanfic

By AlexB

Seven

"Your dad looked good."

Peyton felt herself smile. She was doing a lot of that lately. Smiling more and looking over her should less. She learned days after she had arrived home in Tree Hill that her soon to be ex-husband had been released the same day she had packed her bags and left, leaving divorce papers waiting for him on the kitchen table.

When she told Jake the man had looked mad enough to chew nails. For the past three nights he had been parked outside Brooke's house in his truck after he had gotten off duty.

"I'm not taking any chances with my family." He'd told the both of she and Brooke then refused an offer to camp out inside.

A big part of Peyton believed that Jake wanted Derek to show up so he could show him that business end of his fists. She didn't remember Jake being so fierce when they had been younger. Yeah, he had been protective and loyal, but no so…

Spoiled for a fight.

"_I'm not taking any chances with my family."_

The fact that he saw her that way meant so much. Peyton hadn't felt a part of something good in years. Being back home where she belonged…

There weren't any words.

She looked at her friend. "He's trying." She said. "And that's more than I ever could have asked for."

"I remember your dad not being too fond of Lucas way back when. Things change I guess."

Peyton nodded. "I don't know what Dad said to Lucas to get him to open his eyes, but Lucas kept showing up on his doorstep every week trying to get him to go to meetings with him until Dan finally caved."

"_Goddamn, Scott." Larry grumbled. "Pain in my ass, and the little bastard knows it too. Dan Scott was a stupid son of a bitch not to have been apart of that boy's life when he had the chance. Then again, it was probably the best thing for Luke seeing how his brother turned out." He looked at his daughter and felt himself blush._

"_Now don't you go telling that boy I defended him. I'd hate to have to kick his sarcastic ass."_

Brooke shook her head. "Never thought any of us would live to see the day that your dad had one nice thing to say about Lucas and vice versa."

Peyton was quiet.

Brooke wrapped an arm around her friend's shoulder. "You're safe here, Peyton, I promise you. Jake will rip your so-called husband in half. Lucas will feed what's left of him to his dog and even if with all that, if he manages to set foot on his door step, I'll shoot his sac clean off his body."

She watched as Brooke reached into her purse and pulled out a Derringer. Peyton felt her eyes go wide.

"This is North Carolina, sweetheart. If you don't own a gun, you 'ain't from 'round here'."

"I don't own a gun."

"But you can shoot. That's probably why your rat bastard, piece of shit, husband didn't keep guns in the house. Am I right?"

She probably was, because had there been a gun in the house, either she or Derek would have been dead a long time ago.

-

For the third time Lucas looked out into the wooded area that was just over his back fence. He sat on the back porch, and orange soda in one hand, a pen in the other.

He felt like someone was watching him. The hair stood on the back of his neck and his skin prickled.

He knew someone was watching him.

Lucas tossed the notepad on his lap aside and stood just as his front door splintered open. He heard a growl and then barking coming from the back of the house. He moved in front of the screen door when it shot open. Seconds later, he was airborne.

_What now?_

Again the air was stolen from his body and stars flashed behind his eyes as they hit the ground hard. He was dazed. The first punch knocked him out of it. The second one pissed him off. This was bullshit, and he was damn sick and tired of people coming into his house with "just cause" to swing at him.

"You son of a bitch, this is your fault. This is your fault."

Lucas head butted is brother in the temple dazing him as he had been earlier. Using it, he threw a short arm punch to get the guy off him.

Okay, okay. Jake had had reason he guessed. He'd all but told the deputy to kiss his ass. The same could be said for Nathan. The only difference was Lucas had been telling Nathan to kiss his ass since junior leagues.

He should be used to it.

Lucas got to his feet shaking his head hard. He barely had time to brace himself before Nathan charged at him. He lost his balance, stumbling backward taking Nathan with him. They went over the stump. Lucas first thought as they fell was of the ax. He hadn't buried into the stump, but laid it across the old wood.

"Nathan goddammit!"

They had disturbed that ax's handle. He felt the handle his against the bottom of his foot as they hit the ground sending up shooting upward in the air. When it came back down, white hot pain lanced through Lucas's leg. If he shouted, Lucas hadn't heard himself. Pure adrenaline had him shooting up and pulling the ax's blade from his leg.

As he lay there on the ground afterward, all Lucas could hear was his blood rushing in his ears and what sounded like alarms going off in his head.

-

He followed the cop to the room then waited until he left before making his way inside. The writer lay defenseless in his hospital bed. It would have been so easy to take care of business right then and there; and Derek was so tempted, but he refused to alter his plans.

He wanted the New York Times bestselling author to know who it was who brought him to his knees. He wanted him to know why, and he wanted him to feel it. Derek wanted the interloper to feel it all slip away.

"I know what you thinking. You're thinking that you're going to protect Peyton from big bad me, right?" The man laughed.

"See this?" He held up the hand that glinted with his wedding band. "It's the match to the one that Peyton wears on her finger. My ring, Scott. My ring, my wife. You can't have her. When Peyton comes home, it won't be to you, it'll be to me.

"I can't tell you how badly I want to end you right here. You just don't know how tempting it is to say 'fuck it' and bury you." Derek pressed a fist to Lucas's chest, where the man's heartbeat. Bending close, he spoke into Luke's ear not caring whether the unconscious man could hear him or not.

"Peyton will hurt because of you and there's not a damn thing that you can do about it, because before I leave Tree Hill with what's mine, you won't be breathing. Enjoy the rest of your days, Scott. They'll be your last. It's too damn bad you won't know it until it's too late."

-

She stood outside his room, her heart in her throat. She'd left Jake talking with Brooke. She had to see him. The doctors said that he was a alive and that the surgery went well, but Peyton had to see that fact for herself with her own eyes.

Something made her turn. She looked down to the end of the hallway then back down the other end past where Brooke and Jake stood. She swallowed hard. Peyton knew that she was safe here, that there were enough people who would come if she called. Derek couldn't get her here. Her mind knew that.

It was the rest of her that refused to cooperate.

She was safe.

Peyton looked at Lucas again and thought about changing that assessment. Stepping into the room she forced herself to unball her hands.

His face was bruised, one eye was swollen nearly shut. He had stitched over his right eyebrow, his lip was busted, his knuckles were skinned raw, and he had had scrapes down his arms. Peyton wondered what injuries she couldn't see. She knew that there was more.

Before she could stop herself, she reached out a hand to touch him. She ran a finger over his raw knuckles, down the abused skin of his arms. She touched the stitches above his eye, His bruised mouth Peyton touched last. Her eye flew to his when she realized. She fully expected him to be awake looking at her with those eyes, but they remained closed.

Jake and Brooke watched from the door as Peyton pulled up a chair. She sat taking Lucas' hand in hers.

"She needs him." Brooke spoke.

"They need each other is more like it." Jake amended. "I should have driven him to Charleston to stop her wedding instead of throwing his ass in an overnight."

"He was drunk."

"Yeah."

"You don't think that he will come here, do you? Derek I mean."

When he didn't answer, Brooke looked up at him. His face had gone hard. She touched a hand this shoulder.

"Jake."

When he finally looked at her, Brooke took his hand, pulling him down the hall with her. "What?" She demanded. "Is he here?"

"I don't know." Jake answered honestly. "Somers hasn't been to work since he was released and no one can find him. But that isn't what has me worried."

"What does?"

"He hasn't been to his place. It's like the guy has vanished without a trace. I haven't heard anything about him being in Tree Hill. I've got eyes looking out."

"Would you tell me if he were?"

"He'd be gone before you knew."

"Peyton would blame herself if you had to kill her ex."

"He deserves killing." Jake growled out. "It's because of this," he tapped his badge. "That I haven't put him where he belongs."

"Thank God for it."

"Luke doesn't wear a badge." Jake told her. "That's' the other thing that I'm worried about. Luke will rip that son of a bitch apart and spit on what's left. Peyton doesn't need that either."

"You take care of everybody, Jake."

"It's what I'm good at."

"What about you?" Brooke asked him. "Who takes care of you?"

The man was silent. She could tell that he was thinking about the situation seriously. Which situation was what Brooke couldn't figure out.

"You applying for the position, Ms. Davis?" Jake spoke quietly. "There's an open position."

It was Brooke's turn to choose her words. "That's an invitation?"

"You did kiss me."

She took offense to that. "I was tending to your stupid fool wounds. You kissed me."

"Boy woman, do you have it backward."

"Who me? I have it backward. See, this is why men need instant replay. How easily they forget."

"I don't need instant anything." Jake told her, a smile started slowly on his face. "If you do it right…take your time, you don't need to know how it went. You. Kissed. Me."

"It must have blown your mind, baby because you still have it backward. You kiss me deputy. Let me refresh your memory."

"Oh please do."

"With pleasure."

"All mine."

She refused to touch that taunt. "You were sitting on that butcher block island in Luke's kitchen grumbling about our mutual friend being a block head fool. You following?"

Jake crossed his arms over his chest, nodding at her to continue.

"You were whining and crying about a little iodine-"

"That stuff is dangerous. Only someone as masochistic as Lucas would have at that mess in his bathroom when good old peroxide will do."

"You were bitching and moaning about a little stinging," Brooke went on. "I believe your words were 'You could at least blow on it.' I did, and you kissed me."

"As I recall," Jake began as he moved away from the wall behind him. "The wound in question was here." He tapped a finger to the healing wound on his chin. You couldn't help yourself woman, you know, with my mouth being so close and all. I forgive you."

"I have nothing to apologize for."

"You didn't continue." He said to her. "So you do."

"Your mouth isn't so close now."

"Yeah," Jake leaned forward, his lips not even an inch away. "And I know your just dying for some instant replay."

-

In all the years that she had lived here, from birth growing up with her family, and on her own as an adult, Haley had never been to the Sheriff's station. Never on a school field trip and her police record was non existant.

Not that she was a choir girl. That was damn near impossible having had Brooke Davis and Peyton Sawyer for girlfriends, and Nathan Scott for a boyfriend.

She was just…smarter.

The place creeped her out. Other than clowns, jail was the only thing that scared her to death. Haley knew that there was no reason for it, but it was what it was.

Her husband was in jail.

Her best friend had to be sewn back together.

And it as all her fault.

They had lost their child. Like her fear of jail that reeked of desperation and fear, that was no reason for it. The doctors couldn't tell her why.

It was what it was.

One minute she had been happy. They had been happy. They were going to have a baby, then in the next moment…

Haley stopped in her tracks, closing her eyes tightly as she tried to make it all go away. The memory of that morning, she could not take. Not now, and maybe not ever again.

There would be other children, Haley knew that. She was sure of it. I was just ay too soon to let go of the one they lost. The one she still dreamed about; a little girl, with her father's dark hair and blue eyes.

She forced herself to move again. Jake stood beside her quietly. He had been at the hospital earlier and offered to take her to Nathan after sitting with Lucas. He had made arrangements on the way for her to come back in his cell privately. She found it odd that there was no on in any of the other empty cells when she could think of more of a few who should be there.

Nathan had been in here since their loss. Haley hadn't found out where he husband was until she threatened to tear up Tree hill looking for him. Learning that he was in jail was one thing. Learning what he had done to Lucas…

He blamed Lucas, and it wasn't right.

The first time she had come to see him, Nathan had refused her. It hurt. The second time it had confused her. Then it pissed her off. He wasn't going to get a third chance.

When she saw him sitting alone in his cell, a private cell she knew Jake made sure of, Haley felt like she was about to break all over again.

He hadn't shaved, dark hair covered her husband's lower jaw; his hair was mussed. He still wore a white shirt that wasn't white anymore. It was dirty. His jeans were wrinkled and there was a dark spot on them she knew was blood. Lucas's blood.

But that wasn't what broke her heart.

It was the look in her husband's eyes. That lost, hopeless look that dulled them nearly killed her.

Nathan just stared at the wall in front of him while Haley watched. She watched him while Jake watched them.

-

When they had been in high school, he's had no use for the 'second coming' of basketball. Jake had thought that Nathan was an over privileged ass who thought that the world owed him something. His opinion of the man hadn't changed after he learned what a bastard Dan Scott had been to both his sons. It hadn't mattered to Jake because he had known, even at sixteen, that there came a time when you had to stop blaming mommy and daddy and deal with your own garbage.

Nathan hadn't done that.

Haley had done what no other girl had done.

She walked away from him.

She walked away from the almighty Nathan Scott and kept on walking. The difference between Nathan and Haley and Nathan and Peyton, was that Nathan had given a damn. Oh sure, Nathan had wanted to kick Lucas's ass after she chose Luke over him, but it had nothing to do with Peyton leaving, and everything to do him hating his brother.

Nathan and Haley's relationship hadn't be expected or respected. A mercy date, and easy lay, dumbasses had whispered being their hands, but never to Nathan's face for fear that he would 86 them from the privileged life that came from being Nathan Scott's friend.

The "smart" ones never said it to Haley's face either. Only the truly dumb got the Haley James special for their trouble. She had never believed any of the bull that came out of the mouths of bitter bitches who thought that they had the power deem people unworthy.

Haley hadn't believed them even when Nathan had tried to tell her otherwise. The halls of THH had really gotten a show when Haley field goaled Nathan's nuts into this throat.

She had been the reason that Nathan has only been kicked in the berries and not smeared over the parking lot. Lucas hadn't been in any position, but Jake would have done it willingly.

Nathan had been smart enough to realize that Haley wasn't like all the other girls. She wasn't some groupie flunky who wanted to be his girlfriend because of his damned jersey. She wasn't some cheerleader he was expected to be with because she wore the blue too.

Haley hadn't been impressed.

Sure, Nathan going after Haley had been to get to Lucas, but had changed. A likely story, but there it was. The two of them had been off and on for years until Haley grabbed Nathan in the scruff and told him to make a damn choice.

He'd chosen. And Jake had a feeling that Nathan would be choosing again in the not so distant near future.

-

His eyes felt like they were on fire. He couldn't sleep in this place. It was hard to when the "bed" was like cracked cement. He had so much anger and rage inside him. The feeling of complete helplessness only made things that much worse.

He thought that he had hated before.

That had been nothing compared to now.

He hated his father for being and evil bastard.

He hated his mother for marrying him.

He hated his father for having a kid before him.

He hated his mother for choosing status and standing instead of protecting her own child.

He hated his father for choosing him.

And he hated Lucas was because he was such a big part of his wife. He had a hold that surpassed Nathan and he was Haley's husband.

He had tried to respect that damn relationship and look what happened. That selfish prick had cost him and Haley their child.

He couldn't do the one on thing that she asked. He hadn't even stuck around on her birthday. Nathan rubbed his hand over his face. Standing he turned, and then froze. His gaze moved over his wife like he hadn't seen her in years. Her hair was it's ususal mass of burnt blonde curls.

She was so pale.

She wore make-up, he could see, but it didn't hide the bruises under her eyes. Haley wasn't sleeping. She always tried really hard to hide what she was feeling, but she had never been any good at it.

Unconscioulsy Nathan's eyes moved his wife's eyes, those amber eyes that gave away everything, to the spot where their child had been but wasn't anymore. Everything inside of him went cold. He could feel it all ice over. His gaze jerked then to the man who stood behind her and his eyes shot blue fire.

Goddamn Jake Jagielski.

Jake stared back at the man in the cage unaffected by the blistering stare being shot at him. He was a cop. He dealt with belligerent assholes on a daily basis. The fact that the man was hurting kept the words Jake wanted to say from jumping off his tongue.

"Nathan-"

"Go home, Haley."

"No."

He knew that she didn't have much left, that she was about to break, but he didn't want her here. She did not belong here.

"Goddamn you, Jagielski."

"Nathan, please."

"You shouldn't be here, Hales." Nathan's gaze cut back to the deputy. "He shouldn't have brought you here."

"I wouldn't have had to if you weren't such a chickenshit."

"Jake-"

"Fuck you, Jagielski!" He shot. "Do your damn job and take Haley home."

"I'm not going anywhere."

"Yes you are."

"No, Nathan, I'm not." Haley's voice was quiet…it was deceptive. The calm before the storm. "You want to hide from me in this cage, I'll leave you to it, but before I go, you will listen to me, damn you."


	8. Chapter 8

Because He Loved Her

And OTH Fanfic

By AlexB

Eight

He felt heavy. Like something was weighing him down. He couldn't get his eyes open, but he knew that someone was there. He could feel them.

Something wasn't right.

Whatever it was, whoever it was, was holding him down pushing on his chest. He had to get it off. His eyes fluttered, Lucas blinked, but everything was moving in slow motion. The shadow beside him had him trying to fight harder.

It moved closer and those alarms blared densely in Lucas's foggy mind. There was a pressure on his chest again and he stopped moving at the whispering in his ear.

He couldn't understand what was being said, but an overpowering need shot thought him. He had to get to her.

He had to get to, Peyton.

-

"Lucas? Luke."

Jake shot out of his seat next to the wall. Lucas was coming to and messing with the hospital contraptions around him. He pulled at the plastic tubing that gave him extra air from his nose mumbling something that Jake couldn't understand. He leaned closer and listened as Lucas kept muttering the same thing over and over again.

"Peyton. Peyton…"

He jerked his shoulder trying to throw off the effect of whatever it was that had been given to him.

"Cool it, Luke or they're gonna strap you down."

His eyes came open. He knew that voice. It was Jake. He could hear him. But his vision was still all messed up and the man before him was a smudge.

"What?" The word slurred.

"You're in the hospital, Luke." Jake told him. "You had to have surgery on your leg."

"What?" Still groggy, Lucas asked. "Where's Peyton?"

"Dammit!" Jake swore when Lucas pulled his IV from his hand.

"Where's Peyton? Gotta protect her." His words slurred. Lucas lurched hard damn near throwing himself out of the bed. Jake caught him.

"We will."

Jake reached over and pressed the call button. Seconds later a nurse came in. He stepped out of her way so that the woman could do her job. She spoke to Lucas as she started him on a new IV. She told him what had happened and why he was where. When she left Jake took up his post again beside his friend.

He'd been going to Luke's to apologize for beating him up when he'd seen that the door had been kicked off its hinges. He drew his weapon on instinct, no cop was ever off duty, as he heard Simon going off. He shouted for Luke and wondered why Simon hadn't taken care of it.

Stepping inside, Jake watched as Simon streaked from the back of the house and through the back door jumping off the porch he barked and lunged at the two men who were battling it out on the ground. It was a straight shot from the front door to the back. Jake ran through the living room, down the hall and kicked the screen door open ready to haul Nathan's ass to lock up.

The screen door had slapped against the side of the house. The noise hadn't gotten their attention. Putting his gun away he had whistled sharply. That hadn't done a damn thing either.

When they stood, Jake had barked out a warning, "Knock it the hell off!" Neither one of them had listened. Nathan charged Luke and they had fallen over that old stump. Luke's ax had been laid across the top and shot up when Lucas and Nathan disturbed it. When it came back down, it came down on Lucas's leg. His pained shout still echoed in Jake's mind.

He shouted a command to Simon, gave the dog permission really, to do what he had been doing for years before. Simon pulled Nathan off Lucas and pinned him to the ground growling low and deep in his throat and chest. Nathan didn't move.

While he'd called an ambulance for Luke, Jake had told him not to touch the ax to leave it. He had told him not to pull the damn thing out, but it had been like Lucas hadn't even heard him and they guy had been staring right at him.

Lucas had been in shock when he pulled the damn thing out.

Leaning back in the chair, his head tilted against the wall, Jake sighed and washed his hands over his face. He reported this to the Sheriff after it all had happened, but he was still going over the facts in his mind. Trying to see what he could have done sooner to stop it so they wouldn't be here now.

_I should have shot Nathan's ass._

_-_

"How long I been here?"

Jake jerked his head from where it rested on the wall at the sound of his friend's rusted voice.

"Thought you were asleep."

"I'm not." Lucas replied with his eyes still closed. "How long, Jake?"

"Three days."

Lucas's eyes came open the smallest bit. "I've been in this place for three days?"

The other man nodded. "You've been in and out of it since you came out of surgery."

"Surgery?"

"Do you remember what happened Luke?"

Lucas swallowed as it all played over again in his mind.

It hadn't been a dream.

"_You son of a bitch…"_

"_This is your fault…"_

He flinched and jerked when he remembered the searing pain of the ax cutting into his leg.

"My leg." Lucas forced his eyes opened and looked down his body to the foot of his hospital bed where his leg was bandaged and elevated on a pillow. When Lucas swallowed again a slicking sound sounded at the back of his throat. His voice came out thick as he was near tears.

"How bad is it?"

"Luke-"

"How bad!" He shouted.

Jake sighed pushing a hand through his hair. "They, uh, they had to completely reattach your calf muscle, Luke." He watched Lucas squeeze his eyes shut and clench his fists into the sheet under him.

"They say that the ax had just been oiled and sharpened," Jake went on. Lucas nodded. He remembered doing all that before he started splitting more wood.

"It didn't go all the way through, Luke, but it was pretty damned close. Too damned close." Jake waited, debating whether or not to tell Lucas this. When he spoke it was because he needed to hear it all now and not later.

"I got Nathan in lock up."

"Why?"

"Because he attacked you, Lucas."

"I don't want to press charges."

"Luke-"

"Cut him loose, Jake!" He hadn't meant to yell, but he didn't want to argue about this either. "He didn't put that ax through my leg. It was an accident. Let him go."

Jake stood. "Okay."

Lucas turned his head away staring out the window. He didn't want to leave his friend like this, he didn't want to leave him alone period, even if he did want throw his surly ass out his own hospital window, but he had business to take care of.

-

Nathan sat in his cell, his head in his hands.

His soul hurt.

"_You want to hide from me in this cage, I'll leave you to it, but before I go, you will listen to me, damn you…."_

He couldn't stop remembering that morning. He could still hear his wife's screams. Haley had been in so much pain, and the blood…

Nathan shuddered.

They had lost their child.

"_So is this it, Nathan? Am I going to lose you too?"_

The doctors…they couldn't tell him anything. They couldn't tell him how it happened, why it happened, what they could have done to stop it. They had named every cause from stress to Haley's body rejecting the pregnancy, and that was a load of bullshit.

"_Are you saying that this is my wife's fault? That she didn't want our baby?"_

They had made that life together and Haley had wanted their baby every bit as much as Nathan had. Haley never regretted being pregnant or thought that it was a mistake. There had to have been another reason.

"_You don't know my wife, she loved our child. Get me another doctor. Someone who knows what the hell they're talking about. Someone I'm not about to stomp a mud-hole in and walk dry. I want another doctor. Now!"_

In the end he hadn't need a doctor to tell him the reason why. Nathan knew what the reason was.

Stress.

Haley had been trying so hard. She had wanted so badly for the feud between he and Lucas to end so she could have the both of them in her life, and that selfish…that selfish bastard…that selfish prick, couldn't even table his animosity toward him for Haley on her birthday.

Her birthday.

"_You don't get to blame Lucas. It's ridiculous, Nathan and you know it. You're hurting-"_

"_He did this!"_

"_No he didn't. You want to blame someone, blame me."_

Nathan couldn't have stopped himself from going over there if he tried, and he hadn't wanted to. The whole drive over there images had flashed mind of things that would not happen. Haley big and pregnant with his baby. Cutting the cord. His child looking up at him with Haley's eyes.

It had been a girl.

The doctors hadn't told him that, they couldn't have, it was too soon, but he had known. Nathan had known that Haley was having a girl, he had know that his wife was carrying his daughter.

Now that was over and he was here.

Haley had been here.

"_You want to hide from me in this cage, I'll leave you to it, but before I go, you will listen to me, damn you…."_

_So is this it, Nathan? Am I going to lose you too?"_

"_You don't get to blame Lucas. It's ridiculous, Nathan and you know it. You're hurting-"_

"_He did this!"_

"_No he didn't. You want to blame someone, blame me."_

"_You loved our baby. This is not your fault."_

"_It's no ones."_

"_It's his. He couldn't do one thing for you after all you've done for him."_

He looked up as a shadow fell over him.

-

"What the hell are you doing?"

"What's it look like." Jake snapped. He twisted the key in the lock then jerked the cell door open.

Nathan didn't move.

"You're free to go, Scott." Jake told him. "Lucas isn't pressing charges."

"How big of him." Nathan nearly snarled. "Close the gate, Jagielski. I'm not leaving just appease Lucas's guilty conscience."

"Lucas hasn't got a thing to be guilty about. He isn't responsible for Haley's miscarriage, Nathan. Things happen that we don't have any control over. My mom had three miscarriages before she and my dad had my pain in the ass little brother.

"You sitting in this cell like a moron isn't going to hurt Lucas, it's going to piss him off because it's hurting Haley. While you're in here being a bastard, hating a man for something that he had no part of, your wife is alone and she's hurting because she lost her child, your child, and her husband is sitting in a cell when he should be with her."

"Go home." Jake told him. "Go home and don't try to find a reason for why this happened. There isn't one, and Haley doesn't need you spouting off any more about how her best friend is responsible."

"He is responsible!" Nathan roared standing. He had his hands clenched at his sides. Jake glanced from the other man's balled fists to the hurt and anger that twisted his face.

"No he's not," Jake spoke softly. "And that's why you're so damned mad, because you can't kick the crap out of God. It wasn't supposed to happen this time, Nathan. Go home, be with Haley. She can't be the one taking care of you on this. You gotta be the one to take care of her."

-

His blonde hair was long enough to fall over his forehead, his cheeks and jaw sported the beginnings of a beard and his eyes were dull with whatever it was that they were giving him for pain.

He stared out the window as rain fell down the glass in rivulets. "This isn't the storm you know." He spoke. "Just the big one's warm up act."

Lucas looked over at this friend. Haley stood in the door way in jeans and a huge sweater that probably belonged to her husband. He watched her eyes fill when she took in his bandaged leg.

"It's not event that bad." The told her.

It was worse.

"I'm sorry."

He was shaking his head. "This isn't your fault, Hales, and it's going to piss me off if you keep thinking that it is."

"Nathan-"

"Is a jackass, but he didn't slice an ax into my leg. This is me. I should have put the damn thing away after I was done using it, but I didn't.

"He came to your house. Your face-"

"Is still wicked handsome thank you very much." Lucas shrugged a shoulder. "Jake took some swings at be before. No big deal."

Jake hadn't broken four of his ribs from sending him flying off the porch, but he wasn't about to tell Haley that.

"He was upset. Hurt."

Lucas nodded. "I know."

Haley paused. "You do?"

"Why else would he come after me the way that he did?" He spoke quietly. "I'm sorry, Hales. You can't know how sorry."

"It was a girl you know."

"Yeah," he husked holding out a hand for his friend. "She'd been beautiful too."

Haley took his hand and sat on the edge of the bed next to him and laid her head on his shoulder while she cried. Lucas knew that this wasn't his fault, but a part of him felt so responsible.

"I told Jake to let Nathan go." He felt her nod against his shoulder.

"They'll be other babies," Lucas told her. "Scott men are potent." He wasn't sure if it was laughter or more tears that made Haley's shoulders shake. He really hoped that she was laughing her ass off, but he didn't think so.

"It'll happen again." He told her, touching her hair. "It'll happen again, Hales. I promise."


End file.
